Birthday Wishes
by ShannonElizabeth
Summary: On his thirty fifth birthday, Harry wishes Voldemort never killed his parents. When he wakes up the next day, he's eleven, living with his parents and has a younger sister. Voldemort is running free and trying to find the Phoenix, his one true opposition that he wants dead. Harry has to try and set this reality straight and protect the Phoenix, whoever it is.
1. The Birthday Wish

"Happy thirty-fifth birthday, Harry!" his wife, Ginny, exclaimed, carrying out a large birthday cake. His friends were due to arrive any moment, and Harry grinned at the redheaded women.

"Happy birthday Daddy!" his youngest child, Lily exclaimed, running up to him and hugging him tightly.

"Thank you Lily!" Harry exclaimed, ruffling her hair affectionately. She was the most carefree of his children, and as the youngest, held a special place in his heart.

James and Albus carried in presents, smiling. "Getting old Dad, I think I'm spotting a few grey hairs!" James exclaimed, and Harry shook his head at the oldest. Why he had thought it was a good idea to name him after the two biggest troublemakers Hogwarts had ever seen, he wasn't sure. James was the loudest, got in the most trouble, and was hands down the most joking kid he'd had the pleasure of meeting.

"I'm not getting any quite yet, and I'm still young enough to be fighting Dark wizards." Harry grumbled, shaking his head.

"I think he was joking, Dad." Albus said, quietly. Albus was the quietest of the three, and the most sensible, although Harry expected nothing less due to his namesakes.

"I know, Al." Harry said, smiling.

"I think some people are finally arriving. I swear, is it that hard for people to be on time?" Harry heard Ginny ask.

"Ginny, I don't think anyone's ever on time." Harry said. "What made you think it'd be different this year?"

"I don't know. I'll just keep hoping they gain their sense one day."

Finally, there was a knock on the door and his friends, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Luna, Dean and Seamus came in, along with their kids and the rest of the surviving Weasleys. Birthdays were always large celebrations in their family, and the house wound up full of excitable children, happy adults, and more balloons than one could shake a stick at.

"Happy birthday mate!" Ron exclaimed, patting his friend on the back.

"Happy birthday Harry." said Hermione, giving her friend a hug.

"Good to see you guys!" Harry exclaimed, smiling.

"Blow out the candles and make a wish, Dad!" James exclaimed, pointing to the cake. "It's been dripping wax for ten minutes. At this rate, we won't be able to get to the cake!"

"Glad we know about your priorities, James. I'll hurry up, for the sake of your cake. Now, what do I have to wish for?" he asked, smiling.

"I dunno, a new Lightning Strike for each of your kids?"

After rolling his eyes at James, he looked at his kids' smiling faces and his friends, then realized the two people missing from the picture.

_I wish Voldemort never killed my parents._ He blew the candles out, smiling. There was no way it could come true, but it was the only thing he could think of.

* * *

><p>After the party, he had received several new sweaters, a large box of chocolates, a Quidditch set, and the newest broom on the market, a Lightning Strike. He also received some homemade snowglobes from the younger children, as well as some hand drawn cards.<p>

He and Ginny tucked their kids into bed and went into their bedroom. "I love you, Harry." said Ginny.

"I love you too, Ginny." said Harry.

"What did you wish for?" she asked.

"For the same thing I've been wishing for since I was two." he said, smiling.

"Maybe it will come true." she said, jokingly.

He laughed a bit. "Nothing can bring back the dead, I know that."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry this is short, I promise most my chapters are longer than this! I will do my best to update twice a week, on Thursdays and Mondays, during the summer, since I have time and I have a fair deal already written. Thanks for reading!**


	2. The Party Raiders

Harry woke up the next morning, feeling hair on his face. He opened his eyes to something with big, chocolate brown eyes and auburn hair right in his face.

"Aaagh!" he exclaimed, pushing it off him. Then he realized it ought to be Ginny. _Why in Merlin's saggy Y-Fronts was she leaning over me like that?!_

"Harry!" she complained. Then he realized the figure was a little girl. She was very short, she couldn't be more than four feet tall!

_Okay..._ he figured, _that can't be Ginny. _He then thought it was Lily, since she was rather short, and had the same eyes and the same colour hair.

He looked at the girl a bit closer, and he realized it couldn't be Lily. The girl's hair was too frizzy and long to be Lily. It was quite apparent that he had never seen her before. Heck, he had never seen this room before! He wasn't scared, per se, but he certainly wasn't comfortable with the situation!

"Happy birthday!" she exclaimed, and began jumping on the bed. She reminded him of someone he knew...

"Vivianne! Come out here and help me!" a woman exclaimed from out of the room.

_I've heard that voice somewhere..._ Harry thought. He couldn't place where, but he knew it.

"Be back in a minute! Need to help Mum!" the little girl exclaimed, as Harry now knew was Vivianne. "You should probably head out to the dining room, you slept in really badly! Everyone's gonna be here soon!"

Harry shut the door, and got dressed, figuring he was better able to investigate if he felt comfortable actually walking around the house and not under his sheets. He walked out of his room, following the smell of food, and found the dining room right next to the kitchen.

There was a knock on a door, which Harry presumed was the front door, and there was a squeal as the door opened.

"Honestly Prongs, you really need to make that door stop squeaking, it hurts my ears!" the newcomer exclaimed.

"It truly is dreadful, it really hurts my ears." a higher, female voice stated. It was quite harsh sounding, and Harry didn't like the sound of the person already.

"I will soon. Good to see you Padfoot, Yvette, Camille. Any idea when Moony and Wormtail will be here?"

"No clue."

Vivianne entered the room, carrying a small tray with pancakes and singing 'Happy Birthday' and a red haired woman followed, with some chocolate milk and singing along.

"Happy eleventh birthday, Harry!" said the woman, smiling. Harry now recognized her, it was his mother.

_Holy crap!_ Harry thought, _My wish came true!_

Harry's suspicions were confirmed when James Potter walked into the dining room, followed closely by Sirius Black, a tall elegant woman with platinum blonde hair and harsh blue eyes, and a small girl that was exactly like the tall woman.

"Lily." the woman said, coldly. The little girl wrinkled her nose.

"Yvette." Lily said, matching the tone. It was obvious the two women hated each other.

"Uncle Padfoot!" Vivianne exclaimed, running up to Sirius and giving him a hug. She ignored the two woman as if they weren't there.

"Hello Viv!" Sirius exclaimed, smiling and picking Vivianne up. Then he looked at Harry, smiling. "Looks like you'll be able to head off to Hogwarts this year! Remember all the fun we had, James?"

"How could I forget it?" James replied, smiling in a lopsided fashion that matched what Harry had seen in the Mirror of Erised.

Harry started going through everything that he knew in his head.

He had gone back in time, his parents were alive, he had never been raised by the Dursleys, he had a younger sister, he was eleven, he hadn't gone to Hogwarts yet and by the looks of things, Voldemort never existed. He could certainly live with that!

There was some more squeaking hinges as another person entered the house.

"It's us, Remus and Peter!" a loud, familiar voice exclaimed.

Harry was currently enjoying this current reality, with his parents and his godfather and friends.

Lily smiled, "Come in!" she yelled.

Remus and Peter came in not a moment later.

"Sorry we're late, got... uh... caught up." explained Remus.

Sirius nodded, knowingly. "How bad? Where?" he asked.

"Not bad, shortly past the Longbottoms' place. Following us though." replied Remus.

Everyone nodded except Harry and Vivianne. Harry was slightly confused.

"What kind of holdup?" asked Vivianne, also confused.

"Oh, nothing you need to worry about Vivianne." said James, patting her head.

Harry began understanding what the 'hold up' meant.

"How about you tell me?" asked Harry. He didn't want to be treated as a kid, despite the fact he was one. He'd gone through Auror training and was only eleven. Alright, that was when he was an adult, but that didn't matter. He'd still done it!

"Well -" James began before he was cut off.

"Eat your pancakes before they get cold." said Lily, changing the subject.

_Later._ mouthed James.

Harry smiled. He was going to be useful however he could.

He ate his breakfast quickly, as Remus pulled Sirius out to talk. Sirius then came back in and whispered something to James.

"Five minutes!" James exclaimed.

"Alright, Vivianne, Harry. Follow me." Lily said, motioning for them to follow her.

Vivianne complied immediately, Harry stood up.

"I want to help." he said.

"No, Harry, you don't have a wand yet. Follow your Mum." Sirius stated, drawing his wand.

_Right,_ Harry thought, _I'm not an Auror and I haven't gone to Diagon Alley yet. Of course I'll be treated like a kid!_

The little, stuffy girl followed too, slightly bumping into Vivianne in a rather rude fashion.

"Watch it Camille!" Vivianne exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry, Vivianne." Camille sneered, quite rudely. Harry decided he really didn't like her.

Lily led them up to a blank wall under the stairs and tapped it three times with her wand. "Wait for us to get you, remain silent." she said as the wall opened into a closet.

The three children filed in, Vivianne went to the corner and covered her ears. Lily kissed Harry and Vivianne on their foreheads before closing the door.

"It's alright Viv." Harry said, patting his sister's shoulder. He thought that was what big brothers were supposed to do, and if this was his reality, he needed to act the part. Camille remained standing, trying to remain as composed and intimidating as possible. Harry thought she just looked stupid.

Harry didn't know how long they would wait there, nor what they would do if whoever they were hiding from found them, but he would definitely talk to his parents about improving this little cupboard under the stair's safety. He smiled at what Hermione would be saying about this whole situation. _Oh the irony._

"Where's the Phoenix?!" a shout was heard from downstairs. Harry recognized the voice. Fenrir Greyback. Then he began wondering what the Phoenix was. It was probably connected with the Order, but he was wondering why they weren't trying to find him, the Chosen One or The Boy Who Lived. Then he realized that there was no Boy Who Lived. He hadn't survived a Killing Curse.

He could be normal.

Vivianne pressed her hands harder into her ears, covering them almost completely. She was beginning to really panic, Harry felt bad for her. Camille just stood there, unmoving, unblinking and petrified. Harry knew she was itching to insult Vivianne for being outwardly scared, although he could read the fear on the young girl's face. Harry was an expert at silence and composure, he'd spent years training to be an Auror for Merlin's sake! He was also very calm in emergencies, which this clearly was. However, it appeared that all children had to be experts at silence here.

There were curses beginning to fly, Harry could hear the incantations and crashes. Vivianne's eyes were beginning to brim with tears and Camille was starting to pace. After a few minutes, Harry stood up, grabbed Camille's shoulders and made her sit down. Even then, she began to tap her foot anxiously. Harry was the only one not panicking. He began listening at the wall, hoping to hear some signs of an end.

The fight went on for another several minutes, but it felt like eternity to the threesome in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry was beginning to reminisce about the many weeks he spent locked in one involuntarily. Now he was being locked in one voluntarily!

The threesome were finally let out, and the adults all looked frazzled. All Harry could think was about muffling the sound in the cupboard, it would reduce their stress while locked in there.

"How bad was it?" Vivianne asked, quietly.

"Nothing we couldn't handle. There was only a couple of them, and they left when they realized we were putting up more of a fight than they wanted to deal with." Lily said.

"Now, Diagon Alley?" James asked, trying to relieve the tension. Everyone nodded.

Harry wondered for a fleeting moment why they were going so soon after a raid. Why was this so soon? Why not relax? Then, looking around, he realized it was the need for normalcy. The need for this not to be happening. The need for everything to be safe, and damn it all, they would fake it for the children, so they didn't always need to be scared. Anyway, this was probably normal for them. The usual routine, and something someone needed to work around.

"Can I get a wand Daddy?" Vivianne asked, which broke Harry out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, no can do. You aren't eleven yet." James replied.

Harry wondered if he'd still get his phoenix feather one. Well, now he'd figure out what he would've had without any form of Voldemort's influence in him.

Harry thought of a question, and blurted it out quickly. "What's the phoenix? The thing or person they were looking for?"

"Not now Harry." Lily said.

_Later._ James mouthed.

Harry nodded.

Lily walked over to the fireplace and got the Floo powder out. "Let's go, I'd rather we do this quickly."

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><p><strong>AN: Yeah, I really couldn't make a perfect reality for Harry. It'd be no fun! I hope you guys like Vivianne, I felt the need to give Harry a sibling. I hope you guys are enjoying this, and I promise seven Hogwarts years of adventure :D Please follow, favourite, review!**


	3. Diagon Alley

They Flooed to Diagon Alley, Lily apparently had seen an old friend from school before Harry had gotten out of the fireplace.

"Alice!" Lily exclaimed.

"Lily!" the woman exclaimed, embracing her friend.

"How are you? I hear your son's going to Hogwarts this year, where is he?" Lily asked, smiling.

"I'm good, and yes, Neville's going to Hogwarts. He's with his Dad right now, they're having some father-son bonding time and giving me a long earned break! Verity's at her grandmother's right now!" she said, "Now, I'm presuming this is your son Harry!"

"Oh yes, you can see how much he resembles James!" Lily laughed.

James and Harry were standing there awkwardly.

"Umm..." Harry began, planning on asking to head into Ollivander's, but he was stopped by Alice going up to him.

"Yeah, he really does resemble James!" she exclaimed.

There was a loud shout from behind and Remus, Peter, Camille and Yvette showed up, then Sirius and Vivianne. Harry was beginning to see that Sirius and Vivianne were extremely close.

"Well, Harry needs to get his school supplies, and maybe a pet -" James began.

"Oh, of course! Well, you'd better get going! Bye!" Alice exclaimed, cutting James off.

"Can I get an owl?" Harry asked, thinking of Hedwig. This time around, she wouldn't die. He would make sure of it.

"Oh yeah, sure! We can go now!" James exclaimed.

James took Harry to Eeylops Owl Emporium, and Harry looked for the familiar bright green eyes and white feathers. He managed to locate her, he smiled as he picked the cage containing Hedwig up.

"That one?" James asked, skeptically.

"Yeah!" Harry exclaimed.

"Alright then, let's get it." James said, then asked, "Any ideas for a name?"

"Yeah, Hedwig." Harry said.

"Hedwig? What makes you think of that?" James asked, surprised.

"Oh, um, I think it fits." Harry said, dodging the question.

James shook his head slightly. "Alright, Hedwig it is then. So, let's go to Flourish and Blott's, we'll meet up with everyone at Fortescue's Ice Cream Emporium when we're done getting your stuff."

Harry was quite happy with the new arrangements of his family being alive, but then he thought of Hagrid and Dumbledore. Would he still be close with them?

Chances are, he thought, no. But at least I have my family.

They grabbed his textbooks, they got his robes without incident and without Malfoy, they got his Potions ingredients and cauldron, and finally, his wand. There was a decidedly strange lack of Malfoy, as well as a lot of Slytherins Harry had known from the other reality.

He tried out tons of wands before it came down to 11 inches, holly with phoenix feather core. He picked it up and felt the familiar warmth of it. He immediately knew that this was it.

Ollivander seemed surprised, telling him about the twin core in Voldemort's wand, but then he said something that was a surprise to Harry.

"Those weren't the only two feathers that Phoenix gave. There is one other, I still have yet to sell it." he said.

Harry was confused for a second, then realized that there was probably a reason for it and decided not to question it.

After they left Ollivander's, they walked over to Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour. They all got a sundae and chatted for a while.

"How about we head into muggle London for a walk?" Lily suggested.

"Are you sure? The attacks though -" Yvette said, looking at Lily nervously.

"It sounds like fun, Lily." James said, smiling weakly.

"But after what nearly happened to the Bones -" Yvette interjected, before Sirius shook his head and nodded towards Harry, Vivianne, and Camille.

"It'll be fine. Let's go!" Sirius exclaimed.

After everyone agreed and finished their sundaes, they all left Diagon Alley. They walked for a while, pointing at the sights and even going on the London Eye.

When they began walking back to Diagon Alley, Harry spotted a woman and a young girl, both with dark, curly hair, heavy lids, high cheekbones and a cocky gait, both with sharp features. There was also two men, both with dark hair and blunter features.

Harry reacted instinctively. He grabbed Vivianne and Camille's shoulders, pulling them down, the Killing Curse missing Vivianne's head by a centimetre and barely missed Lily as she jumped to the side.

"RUN!" Harry yelled, and they group tore down a side street.

James pulled Harry over to the side. "Take Vivianne and Camille and run to the Leaky Cauldron. Don't stop until you get there. They're your responsibility."

Harry nodded, then grabbed Vivianne and Camille's arms, dragging them along, wand clutched tightly in his fist.

"Ow! Harry! You're hurting me!" Vivianne exclaimed.

Harry stopped for a second and bent down. "Get on my back!" he exclaimed.

Vivianne hopped on, Camille looked at him. "What about me?"

"Vivianne, hold on tight!" Harry said, picking Camille up and running. He saw some figures enter the side street and the other end and he turned down an alley, seeing some hooded figures at the end, Harry turned around and there were the figures he had seen that caused him to go down this street.

Camille let out a shriek, Vivianne's scream rivalled a banshee's. Harry dropped the two of them, pulled his wand out and sent a Stunner towards some of the Death Eaters. He did the only thing he could think of.

"Hold onto me! Now!" Harry exclaimed. Vivianne and Camille grabbed his arms and he concentrated on the Leaky Cauldron, spun on the spot and Apparated. They landed on the front step of the Leaky Cauldron.

"Holy crow, Harry! You Apparated!" Camille exclaimed.

Vivianne was looking shocked, Harry looked at her and she wasn't splinched. He let out a sigh of relief, he was sure he would be skinned alive if Vivianne was hurt.

Several minutes later, Lily and Yvette stumbled into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Mum!" Vivianne exclaimed, running up to Lily and hugging her tightly.

"Hello Viv, how'd you get here so fast?" Lily asked.

"Um..." Vivianne began trying to think up an excuse to keep Harry out of trouble.

"Harry Apparated us here when we were surrounded by Death Eaters, right after he shot a spell at them, knocking several unconscious!" Camille exclaimed, still looking at Harry in disbelief.

Lily looked at Harry disbelievingly.

"Yeah..." Vivianne said.

"Did you really?" Lily asked.

"Errr..." Harry began.

"Harry James Potter, did you?" Lily asked, giving him a glare that could make Snape consider shampoo if that was what she was demanding.

"Yeah!" Harry squeaked. He could face death by Voldemort head on, but he began shaking in his boots when his mother glared at him. What an Auror he was!

"Good job, don't do that again unless it's life and death. Good? Good." Lily said.

Harry was nearly shocked. "So, I'm not in trouble?"

"Do you want to be? You were surrounded by Death Eaters. I would like to know how you learned that though." she said.

"Long story." Harry said.

Lily looked at him. "Did your Father teach you?"

"No."

"So, where's Dad, Uncle Peter, Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius?" Vivianne asked, changing the subject.

"They're going to meet us at home. They got held up." Yvette said.

Just then, the door swung open and Remus and Peter walked in, Remus with several bruises and Peter with a black eye.

"Where's James and Sirius?" Lily asked.

"Let's just get home first. We'll tell you there." Remus said, looking grim.

"We shouldn't have left Diagon Alley, there's been so many attacks out there lately!" Yvette exclaimed, sitting down and running her fingers through her hair.

"Tom, can we use some Floo powder?" Lily asked, beginning to look worried.

Tom nodded, holding out a bowl of emerald green powder.

Harry took the first handful, clearly stating "Potter residence" before the flames flared and he was spinning quickly, making him nauseous. He landed in the fireplace at home, followed by Vivianne, Camille, Lily, Yvette, Remus and then Peter.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Voldemort's influence is really strong, and the Lestranges made an appearance! Mwahahahaha! No one's safe now! (Don't kill me for Sirius and James, please!) I want to thank everyone who has reviewed so far, and I look forward to any and all future reviews! Remember to follow if you haven't already, and thanks for reading!**


	4. The News

Harry, Vivianne, Camille, Yvette, Lily, Remus and Peter all sat in the living room, Lily nursing a cup of tea.

Remus opened his mouth to speak, before biting his lip. "I'm not sure how to say this." he said.

"Just say it as it happened." Lily said, looking almost ill.

"We got separated, we saw them go down an alley, followed by the Lestranges. James and Sirius are good, but even I think they have little chance against the Lestranges. Even the young girl, Everia, she can hold her own. I bet they managed to sneak into Diagon Alley a while ago, disguised and they got her a wand. I was put up against her shortly after you guys got separated from us. She's as bad as her Mum, bet you she trained her herself. She's just a sadistic and psychotic too. I don't think they made it." Remus said.

The cup of tea dropped from Lily's hands, the hot liquid spilling on her lap, all over the couch and on the floor. "Ow." she muttered, although for spilling hot tea, her reaction was muted.

Vivianne grabbed Harry's arm tightly, hugging it to her as if she could bring her Dad back if she squeezed hard enough.

Harry was the calmest. He was upset, but there was nothing he could do. He would endure just like he did in the other reality. He'd at least had several hours with his Dad, it was more than he'd gotten before. However, that seemed to make it harder. He'd actually met the man and lot him. He wasn't just a distant idea. Tears began to flow down his cheeks, and he wiped them away as fast as he could. He would be strong.

Camille and Yvette were like perfect statues. They were unmoving, but full of raw, hard to portray emotion. They really did love Sirius.

Then there was a loud crack in the living room, and James Potter materialized, supporting the limp and bloody body of Sirius Black. James was scratched up, bruised and four of his fingers looked broken, but Sirius, he was bleeding profusely from a cut in his side and was just, well, close to lifeless.

"C'mon mate, I don't want to have to drag you around. Just because you killed Bellatrix and Rodolphus in front of their little girl doesn't mean you should be pretty much dead for all intents and purposes. I'm sure that someday that little girl will understand that it was self preservation and will find it in her heart to forgive you. Now get up!" James was snapping at Sirius. James clearly got irritated with his friend, and dropped him.

"Ow, dammit! James! I just killed a girl's parents in front of her, I am permitted to mope around!" Sirius Black retorted.

"Not to the point of acting dead." James said, and Sirius finally let out an over dramatic sigh before slumping to the floor.

Everyone was dead silent as the looked at the two men.

"One day, James, you will kill a cousin that you despise -"

"I don't have any cousins."

"Fine, you will kill someone in front of their kid, and you will understand the pain I am feeling right now."

"Now, Lily, may I ask why tea is everywhere?" James asked, finally ignoring Sirius on the floor.

That was enough to break everyone out of their trance.

Lily got up and slapped James.

"You - You git! - You think that you can make all of us think that you were dead - dead! - and that you can waltz back in here like nothing happened and ask why I spilled my tea! So, I do not want to talk to you yet! Get out of my sight!" Lily yelled, causing James to back up a bit.

"Got it! I'll head out for a little bit!" James exclaimed, then started towards the door.

"OH NO YOU DON'T JAMES POTTER!" Lily yelled. James retraced his steps back and Lily hugged him. "If you ever do that again, I will kill you." she said, sobbing.

"Got it. I will make sure you know when I am actually dead or alive. Sounds fair!" James said, glad he wasn't being kicked out.

Then Lily hit him again.

"Ow!" James exclaimed.

"That's for making me spill tea on myself." Lily said, glowering. Harry began laughing, but closed his mouth when he caught his Mother's eye.

Meanwhile, Camille and Yvette were huddled around Sirius, with Yvette tending to Sirius' wounds.

Remus began sneaking out of the room, hoping to escape Lily's fury at making her freak out, failing miserably.

"Oh, wait right there Lupin!"

She yelled for an hour straight. Finally, once that was over, Lupin and Peter waved their goodbyes, exiting quickly to avoid another talking to. Sirius, Yvette, and Camille followed shortly after, Yvette saying she was taking Sirius to Mungo's for stitches, much to Sirius' chagrin.

Finally, it was just the Potters. Granted, it seemed like there would be no peace at this rate.

"Oh, James! Harry! Vivianne! So you know, we're going to my Mother's tomorrow. She's been lonely since Dad died, and she wants to have us over for dinner." Lily said.

"Please tell me that your poor excuse for in laws aren't coming!" James exclaimed.

"They are, and so is my sister! You are not going to complain and we are going to go and you are not picking a fight with Vernon over anything, nor are you talking about your lack of a job. Petunia already thinks you're a useless drunk." Lily said.

"Why didn't you tell me this before we left? I would've made sure Lestrange killed me so I didn't need to deal with them!"

"James Potter! Now, remember, no fighting!"

"What if they pick - "

"No. What. Ifs."

Harry was going to have to deal with the Dursleys. This time, they would have no clue about the abuse they gave him, but it was going to be very awkward for him. How do you talk to people that you've had a solid 30 something years dislike for?

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><p><strong>AN: Yes! The Dursleys are showing up next chapter! Isn't that exciting? And nope, James and Sirius aren't dead! Can't get rid of them that easily! Before anyone complains about Bellatrix being dead already, don't worry. She's going to have a replacement... Also! For all of you who want teasers, or updates on the status of upcoming chapters, etc. I've started a blog on tumblr for it! The url is birthdaywishesteasers, and for anyone who miraculously stumbled upon it, you'll have noticed I included a couple paragraphs from this chapter.**

**Responses to Guest Reviews! (MAJOR thanks to everyone who reviewed, and I think I've responded to all of you by now. You're the best!)**

**Hermione: I'm glad you like it so far, and I hope that this lived up to your excitement! Thanks for reviewing!**


	5. The Awkward Dinner

Lily Potter had spent the entire morning trying to brush Vivianne's hair. She'd pulled out a bird (which drove the cat insane, Harry was surprised that such an old cat could still run!), several twigs, a necklace, six ponytail holders and a garden gnome, but the only thing that Lily couldn't get out was all the frizz.

"OW! MUM! THAT HURTS!" Vivianne had yelled for the umpteenth time. Harry and James sat out in the living room, watching a feather float down from the ceiling, thrown up there by the cat. There were a few feathers in old Rusty's mouth as he sat in the middle of the living room contently.

"Guess we don't need to give him dinner tonight." Harry remarked, watching the cat stretch out then amble off to the master bedroom where he'd probably sleep for the next week and a half.

"Yeah. Poor bird. Survived Vivianne's head, just to be eaten." James murmured, remorsefully. No one knew exactly why Vivianne was able to get birds in her hair, she just seemed to have a bloody affinity for them.

"OW! MUM!" was another scream from the bathroom.

"Should we save Vivianne yet?" Harry asked, glancing up at James.

"No, I'm sure Lily will get frustrated and just fix it with magic soon." James replied.

Harry nodded, it was pretty likely.

Vivianne and Lily came out twenty minutes later with Vivianne's hair in a very frizzy braid and scowling. Lily looked just as irritated.

"So, we ready to go?" James asked.

Lily looked at all of them in their shorts and t-shirts.

"No, Petunia's going to be talking about how we didn't-" Lily began.

"Mum, it's almost noon. We were supposed to be there almost half an hour ago." Harry interjected.

"Fine! Let's go!" Lily said, exasperated. She was clearly stressed out over seeing her family.

James apparated with Harry and Lily apparated with Vivianne to Lily's Mum's house.

James knocked on the door, which was opened a moment later by a very old woman.

"Oh, hello James! Lily! Harry! Oh, and you look so cute Vivianne!" she cooed, pinching Vivianne's cheeks.

Harry could tell that Vivianne was her favourite. He hadn't really known his grandmother, she'd died shortly after he began living with the Dursleys. He suspected that might've had something to do with Lily dying young, considering she was still around in this reality.

They walked into the house, where Petunia, Vernon and Dudley sat in the living room.

"We thought you'd never show up!" Petunia exclaimed, eyebrow raised, daring them to argue with her.

"Sorry Tuney - " Lily began, but was cut off by Petunia.

"Don't call me that!"

"Sorry, Petunia, but we got held up brushing Vivianne's hair." Lily said, clearly frustrated.

Petunia also looked over their clothes and frowned in distaste. "And why, may I ask, are you wearing... that?"

"Because we were running late!" Lily exclaimed. "We didn't want to hold you up any further, and we just so happened to be wearing these at the time!"

"Girls, don't fight. I remember when you guys were younger and the best of friends!" their mom exclaimed.

"Yeah, that was before we found out she was a freak." Petunia muttered.

That was it for Lily. "I am not a freak! I remember you wanted to go to Hogwarts and be like me, but when you couldn't, you decided that if you couldn't be something, no one else should either!" she snapped.

Mrs. Evans let out a sigh and collapsed in her chair. "Harry, happy belated birthday, I hope it was a good one." she said.

"It was, we went to Diagon Alley, then took a walk through London, it was fun." he replied.

"Now, Dudley, Harry, Vivianne, go, head outside. Play on the swings or something." she said.

"I'll head out and supervise." James said, following and looking at the two sisters uncomfortably.

Harry saw that Dudley was frowning at that, too many 'freaks' for his liking. Well, Harry was glad that there wouldn't be any Harry hunting since his Dad was there and besides that, Dudley had probably never even thought of it. There were some advantages to this reality he could enjoy.

The four of them quickly went outside to avoid the fight occurring in the house, and Vivianne saw the swing set and ran for it; immediately picked the best swing, quickly getting really high.

"I remember when me and your Mum first got married, she wanted a swing set. She's always loved them. Apparently she used to swing really high and would jump off. Scared me the first few times she did, but she always managed to land lightly on her feet." James said, smiling.

When Vivianne got as high as she could go without swinging over the bar, she launched herself off the swing. Harry remembered how it looked when Lily jumped, from Snape's memories, but this was nothing like it. She pretty much soared across the lawn like a bird, landing inches from the house.

"That isn't what your Mum did." James said, clearly bemused.

After a few hours of yelling from inside the house, it was time for dinner. Harry was glad that he didn't need to deal with the Dursleys that much, they mostly had been inside and Dudley avoided him like the plague. In this reality, he was the one at the advantage, he knew of his magic and actually seemed to have a degree of control over it, a lot like he did in the other reality, but he never knew what he was doing and neither did Dudley.

Supper was eerily silent. Petunia and Lily were clearly very angry at each other, and Mrs. Evans was wiped out from refereeing the fight. Vernon was uncomfortable with all the 'freaks' at the table, as was Dudley, and James felt awkward. All attempts at conversation didn't seem to pick up. Harry also found it awkward, there was still the many years of abuse, and even more years of dislike towards the Dursleys. In fact, Vivianne seemed to be the only one unfazed by the awkwardness. She was eating her dinner like it was always like this. Nothing seemed to faze her at all.

"So, Lily, want to get a swing set?" James asked, awkwardly.

"Sure." she replied, saying nothing else.

"Okay then."

"Only a month until Hogwarts!" Harry exclaimed. He was really excited for it, it had truly been his first home.

"That's great." Lily said.

"What're you most excited for?" James asked.

"Quidditch and Defence Against the Dark Arts." Harry replied, he was going to excel.

"Shame you'll have to wait for your second year to play Quidditch. But, DADA is fun, I preferred Transfiguration." he said.

"Can you not talk about Hogwarts in front of us?" Petunia asked.

That put the Hogwarts conversation down.

"I think that next time, I'll just invite you over on separate days." Mrs. Evans sighed.

Harry didn't blame her, and he was looking forward to not needing to see the Dursleys again. Even though he and Dudley had made up in the other reality and were on Christmas card terms, they'd never truly become close, and he preferred avoiding them. When he was in the neighbourhood, he'd bring his children over to play with their cousins, but that was the extent of their relationship. His kids seemed fine with it, but he'd be sitting awkwardly on the couch with Dudley, neither of them saying a word. He didn't even speak with Petunia or Vernon.

The thought of his kids made Harry miss the other reality. As amazing as this one was, he missed Ginny and his children. He missed his friends. Even though it was nice not being special, he would miss the adventures he had. For a moment, he wanted to go home, where it was safe for everyone now, as opposed to here. He'd only been gone two days, and two days was long enough.

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><p><strong>AN: I hope you guys are enjoying this so far! I thought it would be fun to have a chapter with the Dursleys in it, and I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading, and don't forget to review!**


	6. I Gotta Get Back To Hogwarts

Harry and his family, including Sirius, Yvette, Camille, Remus and Peter, were at Platform 9 3/4, waiting for Harry to board the train.

"Gosh, remember first year? Lily hated your guts from the moment you opened your mouth." Sirius laughed, giving James a shove.

"Yeah, well, I turned out marrying her, didn't I?" James remarked, smiling at the Hogwarts Express.

Harry's attention was diverted from the Marauders reminiscing as Lily knelt in front of him. "Now, Harry, have a good year, don't get into trouble - " Lily began.

Apparently, her words of wisdom weren't going to be private. "He's a Potter, he's going to get in trouble!" Sirius exclaimed, cutting her off.

"Well, I'm doing what mothers are supposed to! Now be quiet and let me finish!" Lily snapped at him.

"Well, he is more like James - "

"Sirius. Be quiet and let me finish."

"I'll try not to get in trouble." Harry assured her, smiling.

"Now, have fun, do well in school, make tons of friends, write to us, remember to write to your sister on her birthday, June 14th. Other than that, all good." Lily said, smiling sadly.

"Bye Mum." Harry said.

"Bye Harry." she said, and she gave him a hug, "Oh! I almost forgot, you'll want stuff from the trolley. Here's some money."

"Thanks Mum!"

"No problem." she replied, before murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like _they grow up so fast._

James then walked over. "Lily, how about you comfort Viv, she's upset that Harry's heading off. Harry, make sure you say goodbye to her as well. And everyone else." he said.

Lily walked over to Vivianne, and proceeded to explain that they'd write all the time.

"Alright, now, I want you to have something that I had during school, it'll let you have a bit of fun without getting in trouble." James said, handing Harry a package. "Open it at school." He gave Harry a wink, and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry too much about getting in trouble, if I get the letters first, your Mum won't know."

"Thanks Dad!" Harry exclaimed.

"No problem, now, what d'you say about saying goodbye to everyone else?"

Harry walked over to everyone, and was attacked by Vivianne. "I'm going to miss you Harry! Write everyday, okay?" she asked.

"I will Viv, make sure you write back. I'll be back before you know it, I'm coming home for Christmas." he said, smiling.

Vivianne hugged him really tightly. "Love you!"

"Love you too."

He said goodbye to everyone, even Camille and Yvette, simply because it was polite, although he wasn't going to miss them. He boarded the scarlet train, finding himself a compartment and waving as the train pulled out of the station.

He was looking forward to a normal year at Hogwarts, without all the bells and whistles and without being famous or 'The Boy Who Lived' or 'The Chosen One' or anything of the sort. He was looking forward to being 'Harry' and having the Hogwarts years he was supposed to.

Not five minutes into the train ride, Ronald Weasley entered the compartment.

"Hey, can I sit here? Everywhere else is full, unless I want to sit with the Slytherins or my older brothers." he said.

"Sure, go ahead!" Harry exclaimed.

"Well, I'm Ron Weasley, who're you?" he asked.

"Harry Potter, nice to meet you." he replied.

Ron enviously looked at Harry's owl. "I don't have a pet, we were never able to afford one. I even got landed with my brother's old wand."

"That sucks." Harry grimaced.

"Tell me about it."

There was a knock on the compartment door, where Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom were now standing.

Harry opened the door and Hermione and Neville walked in. "Have any of you seen Neville's toad?" Hermione asked.

"Sorry, no. Just gimme a second though. Accio Neville's toad!" Harry exclaimed, and as the toad soared in, he caught it.

"Trevor!" Neville exclaimed, grabbing the toad. Trevor let out a ribbit of distaste.

Hermione looked at Harry, awestruck. "That - we don't learn that in first year!" she sputtered.

Ron just looked at him. "That's fourth year stuff!"

"Well - I read ahead." Harry said, lamely, not knowing how to explain it to them. How did one casually explain that they swapped realities and remembered everything from it?

Hermione plopped down in the compartment, "Can Neville and I sit here?" she asked, sitting on the edge of her seat.

"Go ahead." Harry replied.

Hermione began talking about classes that she was excited for, and as per usual, Ron looked lost, but instead, Harry was able to keep up. He even talked a bit about DADA.

Apparently, all the banter annoyed Ron. "You're all stuffy know it alls!" he fumed, then stormed out.

"So, what house are you hoping to be in?" Neville asked, changing the subject and trying not to acknowledge the fact Ron had stormed off.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!" Harry exclaimed, jokingly.

"I'm hoping for Ravenclaw or Gryffindor, but I prefer Gryffindor, it truly is the best." Hermione replied.

"I hope I'm in Gryffindor, both my parents were." Neville said, "But, I think Hufflepuff's more likely. Same with my sister."

"I bet you'll be in Gryffindor. So, you have a sister?" Harry asked, trying to hide his confusion. He had been an only child in the other reality!

"Yeah, she's three years younger than me, her name's Verity." Neville said. Harry remembered Alice Longbottom saying something about a girl named Verity, now it made sense. His parents probably would've had another kid if the Lestranges hadn't driven them insane.

"You have any siblings, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, I have a younger sister, her name's Vivianne, she's two years younger than me." Harry replied.

"I'm an only child, it's kinda nice, but it gets kind of lonely." Hermione said.

The trolley came around, and Harry bought treats for everyone in the compartment. Hermione found the chocolate frogs rather odd, but she seemed to enjoy them quite a bit, she found the charm rather amusing.

After the train ride, the three of them got in a boat together and were talking about when they got their letters. Apparently, Professor McGonagall came for Hermione, it had been entertaining when she talked about her parents reaction. They also talked about Diagon Alley trips, Harry didn't mention the whole Lestrange incident, he didn't want to seem like he was bragging. He was determined to be Harry.

Soon, they were taken to the Great Hall, where they wait outside the doors for the Sorting to begin. They got into alphabetical order, and out of curiosity, he looked around to see where Draco Malfoy was. He hadn't seen him at all, and was beginning to wonder if he even existed.

Harry didn't see Draco Malfoy at all. Nor many of the other Slytherins.

Soon, it was time for them to be Sorted, the hat sung its song and people began to be called up.

"ABBOTT, HANNAH!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"SUSAN BONES"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The list continued, soon, Hermione was called up.

"GRANGER, HERMIONE!"

The wait seemed to take a while, but in reality, it was less than a minute.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

It was another few minutes before Neville was called up.

"LONGBOTTOM, NEVILLE!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat didn't take long to decide. Neville put the hat back on the stool before running over to the cheering Gryffindor table.

Harry began to wander what this Sorting would be like for him, the previous time, he had part of Voldemort's soul in him and was a bit more attention seeking. Now, he was sure that he'd be in Gryffindor, though he was much smarter, and could be in Ravenclaw. He wanted to be in Gryffindor, it was the best house and he loved it throughout his Hogwarts years.

"POTTER, HARRY!"

Harry walked up to the stool and sat down, McGonagall placed the hat on his head.

_Hmm... A smart lad, been through a lot. I can see that... Gryffindor would suit you well, bold, daring, brave, loyal, a lot like an Auror. Also the son of Lily and James Potter... Similar to your father in many ways, but you're a lot like your mother. But also, very intelligent. A Ravenclaw in mind. But, Slytherin, there's power in you, the intention to do well in life. But, Gryffindor is still the best choice, so, better be..._ "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry handed the hat back to Professor McGonagall, then ran over to Hermione and Neville, who were cheering loudly. The Sorting continued, finally, it was Ron's turn.

"WEASLEY, RONALD!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron walked over to the table and took a seat by his brothers.

"The hat took a while for you Harry, what was it considering?" Hermione asked.

"Well, it considered Ravenclaw and Slytherin, but it knew that Gryffindor was the right choice." Harry replied.

"It considered Ravenclaw for me, but it chose Gryffindor." Hermione said.

"It didn't even consider Hufflepuff for a moment, said I was meant for Gryffindor and just needed a bit of a confidence boost!" Neville exclaimed, smiling.

Harry looked towards Ron several times throughout the feast, somewhat hurt that his best friend didn't like him. He resolved that he'd at least try to make Ron like him, since he wanted his best friend.

The children were soon in their dorms, preparing for the next day's classes. Harry turned out the lights, but couldn't stop thinking about how different this reality was. It took a while, but finally he drifted off to sleep...

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><p><strong>AN: AVPM reference for the win! Also, about Ron, don't hate me! *dodges insults* I promise you, Ron is freaking awesome and he's going to show it! Just elsewhere! Thank you to all those who followed and favourited!**


	7. The First Day

Harry woke up the next morning, and realized that he still hadn't opened the package his Dad had given him. He reached into his trunk and pulled out the parcel. He tore into the paper and pulled out a cloak, the same cloak that he'd used throughout his Hogwarts years, Hocrux hunting and the subsequent years for some fun. It was his invisibility cloak!

Neville was the second person who woke up, and saw Harry admiring his cloak.

"Oi! Harry, what is that?" he asked.

"My Dad's invisibility cloak!" Harry exclaimed, slipping it on.

"Woah!" Neville exclaimed, as Harry disappeared under the cloak.

Harry took the cloak off, reappearing, and he slipped it back into his trunk.

"Well, we should head off to breakfast!" Harry exclaimed.

"You want to head off to breakfast when you just got that!" Neville exclaimed.

"Shut up!" they heard Seamus and Dean snap, clearly being woken up by Neville's shouting.

"Guys, you won't believe what Harry got!" Neville exclaimed.

"Sure, what did Harry get that's worth waking us up at seven in the morning?" Dean asked.

"An invisibility cloak! Look it, c'mon Harry, show them!" Neville exclaimed.

Harry reluctantly pulled out his cloak, just wanting to get to breakfast. He slipped it on, listening to the gasps from Seamus and Dean. He took it off, and listened to Seamus and Dean give out a 'woah'.

"So, let's go to breakfast then!" Harry exclaimed.

"I wanna go under the cloak!" Seamus exclaimed.

"Would you all shut up!" Ron exclaimed, "I don't care about Potter's damn cloak!"

"Spoilsport." Dean muttered.

"Still, I gotta try that!" Seamus exclaimed.

Harry reluctantly let the three boys try out the cloak, before shoving it in his trunk again. The four of them went to the Great Hall, talking about Harry's cloak, when Harry noticed something.

Professor Quirell. Minus the turban.

Harry also noticed the absence of Snape, in his place was Slughorn.

The timetables were handed out during breakfast, Harry had Double Potions with Slytherin, then Charms, Transfiguration and he ended the day with History of Magic. He didn't have DADA until Monday, he wasn't looking forward to Quirell.

He sat with Hermione and Neville, he claimed a seat at the end of the table.

Soon, it was time to head to Potions, Harry walked with Hermione and Neville. In a way, Harry was glad that he didn't have Snape for a Potions Professor, as Snape truly did hate him, but Snape had saved his life many times. Well, Slughorn was a jolly fellow, so it wasn't going to be that bad!

Harry took a seat with Hermione, Neville sat with Seamus and Slughorn walked in.

Slughorn went through attendance, nearly did a double take when he saw Harry's name on the list. "H-Harry Potter! Ah, I taught your mother when she was in school, brilliant young witch she was!" he exclaimed, smiling, "Amazing at Potions!"

This thoroughly embarrassed Harry, being singled out already as a favourite. He glanced over at Ron for a second, and saw Ron muttering to his seat mate about Harry being an attention seeking, insufferable know it all.

Class was quite fun actually, Harry did quite well, and Slughorn was highly impressed. It helped that Harry had already done NEWTS potions, and he had done some Auror potions training as well, but of course, Slughorn didn't know that.

Slughorn immediately invited Harry into the Slug Club, as well as Hermione. He even offered it to Neville, seeing as Neville's parents were highly successful Aurors.

Harry, Hermione and Neville walked to Charms together, and they learned about wand movements, then they went to Transfiguration, where Harry successfully transfigured a match into a needle. Hermione got rather close, though Neville was unable to. They ended the day in History of Magic, where Harry still nearly fell asleep. It had been much more interesting when he was listening to his son, James, talk about it, as it was mostly Wizarding War history. But, back in the past, it was still dull as dirt. Harry managed to keep his eyes open though, maybe he could actually pass it this time.

Soon, it was time for dinner, and Harry, Hermione and Neville took their seats in the Great Hall.

"Was either of you able to stay awake during History of Magic to take notes? I can't really remember most of the lesson. Goblin wars isn't very spellbinding." Neville said.

"Yeah, I've got a ton! Professor Binns isn't very interesting though, it's rather dry." Hermione said.

"I was able to stay awake, take notes is a whole other story!" Harry laughed, pulling out some parchment and a quill.

"What's that for?" Neville asked.

"I promised my younger sister that I'd write everyday, I have no intention of breaking that promise." Harry replied.

_Dear Mum, Dad and Vivianne,_

_I'm highly enjoying Hogwarts already, the classes are interesting (except History of Magic) and I'm already in the Slug Club. Professor Slughorn seems to like me. I'm doing well, and thank you for the cloak Dad! I think it'll come in handy. I had Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and History of Magic today, but I still can't wait for DADA, although Professor Quirell seems a bit wacky!_

_I've got two pretty good friends already, Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom. I'm also friends with most of my dorm mates, Seamus and Dean are also pretty cool._

_So, how's it going at home? Hope it's all going well. I'll write to you soon!_

_Harry_

Harry folded the letter up, he'd head up to the Owl Tower after dinner. It was a nice experience, writing a letter to his family and being able to expect a reply. With the Dursleys, he'd never bothered to write, he knew he'd never get a reply and he didn't really think that talking to them about the one thing they hated most was a good idea.

Soon, he was walking with Neville and Hermione to the Owl Tower. Hedwig sat near the bottom, preening her feathers, when Harry walked over to her.

"Here Hedwig, can you deliver this to Mum, Dad and Viv?" Harry asked, fastening the letter to her leg.

Hedwig looked at him with her big, emerald eyes, pecked his hand affectionately and flew off, into the night.

"She seems like a nice owl." Hermione said, "I don't have a pet, my parents didn't deem it necessary."

"Who knows? Maybe one day they will and you'll turn out with a part Kneazle cat." Harry said, thinking of Crookshanks.

In the other reality, Hermione had really loved that cat. She'd had Crookshanks until he died at the ripe old age of twenty, and Hermione'd been terribly upset when Crookshanks died. The only consoling thing about Crookshanks' death was that he'd lived a good long life and died painlessly at her favourite place, at the end of Hermione's bed. Even Harry and Ron had to admit that they missed the old cat. Now Harry had a cat of his own who was pretty old, and he understood the connection, although Rusty was a tad bit sadistic. Harry didn't like thinking about what happened to the poor bird that got trapped in Vivianne's hair.

"Yeah, I think I'm a bit more of a cat person." Hermione said.

"Well, Trevor's a good toad, except he tries to run away every five minutes. Harry, you really ought to teach me that charm that you used." Neville said.

The threesome began walking back to Gryffindor Tower, where Harry brought his invisibility cloak to the common room and Hermione even agreed that it was a fantastic cloak. He let Seamus, Neville and Dean try it out, again, and he even offered it to Hermione to try, but she politely declined, saying she didn't feel like it. He could tell she wanted to, but didn't want to outwardly display it in such a childish manner. When it was only Neville, Harry and herself in the common room, she gave in a tried it out.

"Wish I had something like this, it's a truly remarkable item!" she exclaimed, smiling.

Soon, the three of them went off to their dorms, and Harry sat up for half the night, along with the most of his dorm, having fun with the cloak. Ron yelled at them to shut up, but since the next day was Saturday, none of the boys felt like listening to him or falling asleep.

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><p><strong>AN: Once again, I swear Ron being a git has plot significance, and I actually love Ron dearly. Please follow/favourite/review!**

**Also, in slightly less than two weeks, my updating schedule is going to be slightly interrupted. I am having my wisdom teeth removed on the Wednesday two weeks from now, and I'll be updating around that. my schedule will only be wonky for one update. Thanks for understanding!**


	8. The Troll

The first two months for Neville, Harry and Hermione were pretty fun. They may have fallen into a rhythm, but it was fun none the less. They woke up, went to breakfast together, went to classes together, went to dinner together, went to the Owl Tower so Harry could send his letter, then went to the common room and later to bed. Harry was enjoying being 'just Harry', and loved this new reality, although he kinda missed Ron. However, Ron continued to be a git, so Harry decided just to let it be. Whatever was meant to happen would happen, so he would simply allow Ron to be his git - like - this - reality - self. In time, Harry wouldn't seem so special, and in time, Ron would come around. He was certain of it. Ron just seemed irritated that Harry was acting like a know-it-all, and Harry could see where he was coming from. He'd been irritated by Hermione in the last reality because of it.

Only one thing was really bothering Harry, and that was Quirell. Harry thought it might have to do with Quirell's lack of turban and how he wasn't so skittish, but he decided to just be wary and try to have a normal year. That was sometimes what was best, be alert, be wary, but don't pick a fight. When fights were picked, nothing good ever came of it. Anyway, he could've been paranoid, he wasn't sure. The other reality where everything wanted to kill him in Hogwarts had affected him a great deal. He had to get used to the idea that not everything was horrible here, since nothing was actually out to get him.

It was Halloween, and Harry, Neville and Hermione were walking to the Halloween Feast after their Charms class. They'd been practicing levitating things, and Harry was beyond bored. He could do this one in his sleep. Flitwick had proceeded to question Harry about his abilities and where he learned it, and Harry winced slightly as he noted some of the glares he got. This wasn't making Ron like him any more. Hermione had figured it out not too long after him, and Neville was able to levitate it with difficulty after some coaching. They'd all done better than Seamus, who'd managed to blow his up.

As they were walking to their next classes, Harry saw Ron up ahead, talking with two Gryffindor boys that Harry didn't know. The looks on their faces weren't very open or welcoming, and they seemed to be saying things about them.

Neither Harry or Neville were very bothered about what was said about them, but Hermione was greatly affected. "She's such a stuffy know it all, I hate her!" were some of the nicer remarks about her that were being said. They even went as far to say things like "Buck toothed beaver." Harry didn't want to get expelled for fighting, but it was getting tempting. Instead he decided just to confront them.

"Hey, if you have something to say about us, how about you say it to our faces." Harry said.

The three boys turned around, a tad bit shocked that they'd been overheard by the subjects of their ridicule.

"Harry!" Neville exclaimed, "C'mon!" Harry turned around to see Hermione running off crying.

Harry and Neville ran after her, she ran right into the girl's bathroom.

The two boys looked at each other. "You think...?" Neville began. "I mean, we'll be missing classes…"

"That we'll get in trouble? Maybe, but she's our friend so what's a few detentions for comforting her? Anyway, it's just a few classes, we'll catch up!" Harry exclaimed, before walking in. Neville followed.

"Shame you didn't bring your cloak." Neville said. "We'd be guaranteed not to get in any trouble whatsoever!"

Harry and Neville walked in and stood by the stall Hermione was crying in.

"Mione, can you let us in?" Harry asked, awkwardly. He wasn't really used to comforting people sobbing in the loo. The closest to it was when Ginny was pregnant with James and had a terminal case of morning sickness, and she didn't need comforting, she just needed to cry about how life wasn't fair and how this whole pregnancy thing was a load of crap. Harry still didn't know why she'd been willing to have more than one.

There was no response from the stall, just continued sobbing.

"Hermione, those kids were being gits, none of that's true. If they were telling the truth, they'd only be saying good things about you." Harry said, trying the first thing that came to mind.

"Do you really think so?" Hermione asked from in the stall, the sobs being replaced by sniffling.

"Of course, you're brilliant, friendly, pretty, a whole ton of awesome stuff. Frankly, the description would've been accurate if they were talking about themselves." Harry replied.

Hermione finally let them in, although she still didn't want to leave the washroom, she was still upset. Harry and Neville patted her shoulders and let her cry on them until the feast was about halfway over and Hermione decided she'd like to go to the feast and enjoy Halloween.

Just as they were about to exit the stall, the floor began shaking and the higher part of the stall's wall were smashed by a club. The three kids ducked and began crawling for the sink.

"You've got to be kidding me." Harry muttered, just as they got under the sink. Why the hell was the troll there? Voldemort was still alive, and if he recalled correctly, the troll was let loose as a distraction. He didn't remember any mention of it at the feast…

Granted, being the idiot he was, hadn't been paying attention to what Dumbledore said at the feast. It was entirely plausible that it was still an issue. He had been stupid and assumed that this reality wouldn't have any of the Hogwarts issues he remembered.

Then the troll wound up to smash the sink they were under, and Harry got ready for action. Auror training really was handy, since how he defeated the troll all those years ago had been long forgotten. He just remembered it including a lot of dumb luck, that he wasn't sure he had.

Hermione and Neville let out a scream, while Harry pulled his wand out. "Protego!" he shouted, creating a barrier between the troll and the three of them, the shield stopping the troll from crushing them.  
>It gave him a few moments to think, he quickly took the shield down and nonverbally cast 'Levicorpus'. The troll was hoisted into the air by its ankle, swinging back and forth, a confused look on its face.<p>

"How -" Hermione began, completely in awe, before Neville shushed her.

"Best let him concentrate, he's the only thing between us and that troll." Neville whispered.

Harry then dropped the troll on its head, knocking it unconscious. He levitated the club away from the troll so it wouldn't be able to reach it when it woke up.

Just as the three of them were about to leave, the teachers came running in.

"What are you doing here?" Professor McGonagall asked, before seeing the troll. When she saw it, she looked at the three kids. "Did you come in here just to fight this - this troll?!"

"No, Ron and two other kids insulted Hermione so she ran in here and we came to comfort her. Harry managed to beat it all by himself! It was crazy, he cast a shield charm or something, then hung it upside down by its ankle, dropped it and levitated it club away so it couldn't reach it!" Neville exclaimed, looking somewhat shocked, while looking at Harry like he was awesome.

"Is what Mr. Longbottom saying true, Ms. Granger?" McGonagall asked, clearly skeptical.

All Hermione could do was nod, her mouth forming a perfect O.  
>"Very well, you may leave. 15 points to Gryffindor for outstanding bravery. Off you go." McGonagall said, and the three of them scurried off to the common room.<p>

Harry immediately wrote to his parents about his Halloween and wondered if Vivianne had gone trick or treating. He would have to send the letter tomorrow, no one was permitted out of their common rooms until the whole castle was searched.

**A/N: Okay, can I get an 'epic badass Harry for the win?' I wanna thank all you guys for reading this so far, and for the continued support!**

**Also, due to a recent set of reviews that was rather inappropriate and hateful, guest reviews are going to be moderated from hereon out. Criticism is still appreciated, and will make it through. This is just to deter any inappropriate reviews. I understand that Hinny isn't a popular ship, and I'm realizing that people seeing Harry's cloak wasn't a popular decision, but that does not excuse excessive slut-shaming or a long rant about brain damage in reviews. Thank you for understanding.**


	9. I'll Be Home For Christmas

Slughorn (as you could imagine) was holding a Christmas party for his Slug Club. Harry, Neville and Hermione just decided to hang out with each other for it, seeing as they were the only first years there, asides from Blaise Zabini, and none of them were terribly interested in asking someone to go with them. It was better to just go as friends, and enjoy the food, drinks, and company.

The party was fun, the three friends got to meet many people they wouldn't have gotten to meet, including a few Quidditch stars and some Department Heads in the Ministry. Hermione had a very long conversation with the Head of Foreign Affairs, as Harry and Neville had a quick conversation with Kingsley Shacklebolt from the Auror office. Harry also met the Seeker from the English Quidditch Team, who gave him some tips of the art of Seeking. Harry wanted to try out next year, and he might as well get some more information from a professional Seeker. Slughorn pulled Harry over to the corner after he finished his conversation while Hermione and Neville were busy, giving him a smile.

"You're doing brilliantly at Potions, m'boy! Just like your mother!" Slughorn exclaimed, giving Harry a pat on the pat that was a bit harder than necessary. Harry suspected Slughorn had been drinking a bit, but didn't dare say anything about that.

"Thank you, sir. She does mention she was rather talented at it." Harry said, smiling.

"Yes, about her. I was wondering, since I do have these every year, at least. I was wondering if you could pass along a message? Ask her if she'd be willing to come to the next?" Slughorn asked. "I'd send her an invitation, but since you're going to be seeing her tomorrow, I was thinking you could ask."

"Of course, sir." Harry said. Remembering Francis, and maybe just to make his Mum seem that much better, because he was actually able to brag about her a bit in this reality, he refrained from rejoining Hermione and Neville that split second. "Sir, my mother was wondering, would you by any chance still have Francis?"

Slughorn looked delighted, and Harry was instantly regretting mentioning the goldfish as Slughorn began discussing how difficult that magic must have been and into how brilliant his mother was. It was only after a few minutes that Slughorn said anything of interest. "I'm so glad she's turned out well, not like that boy she used to be friends with. He was a brilliant student, but he joined the Death Eaters. Such a shame, he had so much potential."

"Who, sir?" Harry asked, although he had his suspicions. He had a sinking feeling in his chest, as he'd idolized Snape all those years because he'd been good in the end. What if he was wrong? He'd named his son after the man, for goodness sake!

"Severus Snape. I'm surprised she never mentioned him, although I suppose it shouldn't be. They weren't friends, near the end. They had some troubles." he shook his head, before snapping out of his remorse. "Ah, well, I won't keep discussing it. Look! That's Nymphadora Tonks! Just began Auror training! I'm going to go have a talk with her, it's been a little while! Please, do excuse me."

Harry returned to Neville and Hermione, who both looked at his face of distress quizzically. "Don't worry about it, Slughorn began going on about my mother and some boy." Harry said, trying to cover it up.

The next day, Harry, Neville and Hermione all boarded the Hogwarts Express, ready for a nice couple of weeks off. It would be Harry's first one with his family, which made it seem even better to him. Most people took being with family during the Holidays for granted. He never had a Christmas when he was younger. During his previous time at Hogwarts, Harry spent his time in the castle. Not that he would regret those days, but he was giddy with excitement to actually spent Christmas with his parents, and little sister. The joy of opening up presents as a family. This would be a Christmas he would never forget. He'd get to see the look of joy on Vivianne's face as he gave her some presents, and he'd get to experience the joy of a Christmas gathering without all the work of setting it up.

"That was a fun first term!" Harry exclaimed, smiling at his two friends.

"Yeah, it was!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, the Slug Club Party was kinda cool!" Neville exclaimed.

Hermione smiled. "I loved getting to talk with some of the Ministry workers, they have so much fascinating insight!"

Harry could only nod, he couldn't help but wonder who else was on different sides in this reality. Slughorn had made him realize that maybe not everything was as it seemed, and that he should probably focus more on figuring out what else was different instead of just blindly accepting it as it came.

There was a knock on the compartment door. "Anything from the trolley, dears?" the lady from the trolley asked.

"Oh, yeah!" Harry exclaimed, getting stuff for everyone in the compartment. They ate Cauldron Cakes, Chocolate Frogs and Every Flavour Beans, while laughing the whole way back about Hermione eating a pepper one and nearly breathing fire, it was so hot.

Soon, the train ride was over and Harry got off the train, running over to his Mum, Dad and younger sister.

"Hey Harry! How was your first term at Hogwarts?" James asked, smiling.

"It was brilliant! Quirell's a bit kooky though, DADA isn't as fun as I thought it'd be." Harry replied, then addressed his Mum, "Professor Slughorn wants you to attend the next Slug Club party or something, Mum."

"Good old Professor Slughorn, once you enter his Slug Club, you never really leave. I wonder if he still has Francis..." Lily wondered, going deep in thought.

"Harry! You're forgetting someone!" Vivianne exclaimed, hinting at the fact he hadn't addressed her.

"Hmm... Who could I be forgetting?" Harry asked, jokingly.

Vivianne scowled, every inch of her four foot frame seething about the fact he hadn't properly greeted her. "Me, silly!"

"Oh, right!" Harry exclaimed, picking Vivianne up and hugging her, "Good to see you Viv!" The young girl's face lit up, and she giggled.

Harry looked over to his friends, Hermione was leaving with her two parents and Neville was practically being attacked by his sister. Verity had a face full of freckles and rather dark hair, and highly resembled Neville, Harry noted.

Harry turned back to his family, Vivianne jumping around and exclaiming about how she was excited to see what Saint Nicholas had gotten them for Christmas and how she was so excited that Harry was back at home.

"Well, we'd better be heading back, Sirius and the others want to hear all about your term, you can't just leave us on edge with the troll and then not talk about it again!" James exclaimed, patting Harry on the back.

"Don't encourage him! That was dangerous!" Lily exclaimed, scowling at James. "We don't want him being killed at school, thank you very much!"

"Mum, I swear, it was only that once!" Harry exclaimed. "I did what was necessary, we couldn't just run!"

"Goodness gracious, you're a trouble magnet like your father!" Lily exclaimed. "It's going to be a bloody miracle if you survive Hogwarts!"

"We did, it'll be fine!" James exclaimed, patting Harry on the back.

The foursome finally Apparated to the Potter residence in Godric's Hollow, for Harry's first family Christmas with his parents.

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><p><strong>AN: Sorry to all you Snape fans, he's not really good in this universe. Lily hadn't been at risk, so he hadn't felt the need to switch sides. Please review, and thanks for reading!**


	10. Christmas Break

Harry walked through the front door of the house, where he was immediately greeted by Sirius, Remus and Peter. Camille and Yvette greeted him a few moments later. James helped Harry bring his stuff to his room, and then went downstairs where there was the biggest and most elaborate indoor Christmas Tree Harry had ever seen. There were already presents under it, Harry immediately figured that everyone was staying at the Potter's for Christmas. There were parcels for everyone present, and Lily had retreated into the kitchen and was baking, since it was Christmas Eve the next day.

After a few minutes of Harry talking about Hogwarts, Yvette retreated to one of the guest rooms, whereas Camille retreated to Vivianne's, although Harry wasn't too offended. He had realized a while ago that they didn't like large groups of people, and the Potter family Christmas was usually rather large. They just needed some time to relax. Harry knew that both Camille and Vivianne were probably less than impressed with the arrangements, but the Potter residence didn't have enough rooms for everyone. As it was, James and Lily had the master bedroom, Harry's room had a bunk bed stuffed into the corner where Remus and Peter were sleeping, Sirius and Yvette had the upstairs rec room (which still had all the stuff, so it was rather cramped with a double bed stuffed in it), and Camille was stuck sharing with Vivianne. Harry was pretty sure that there would be some massive fights. In a couple of hours, Harry was right. Right after he finished talking about Peeves, Vivianne went into her room because she had just remembered that she had left a present in her room.

Apparently, Camille had messed everything up. Vivianne's room had been an absolute disaster when Harry left, but she knew where everything was. Camille couldn't stand being in an atrociously messy room, and had taken the couple hours of Harry talking about Hogwarts to straighten up.

"THIS IS MY ROOM AND YOU'RE A GUEST! THIS IS - HOW AM I GOING TO FIND ANYTHING?!" Vivianne shouted.

"LOOK AT THIS PLACE! YOU'LL FIND EVERYTHING A LOT EASIER DUMMY!" Camille yelled.

Harry knew this wasn't about the clean room. It was about the two of them sharing the same space.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A DUMMY?!"

"YOU! YOU SHOULD BE THANKING ME FOR THIS!"

"THIS IS MY ROOM! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TOUCHED ANYTHING!"

"I'll be back in a minute, carry on with your story, Harry." Lily said and went to break up the fight.

Harry tried to continue, but it was too loud and distracting with the two nine year old females yelling their heads off at each other with someone trying to referee.

"How about you tell us about Hogwarts at dinner?" James said.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan." Harry replied.

The fight between Camille and Vivianne was over by dinner, but both girls were quite bitter. Vivianne was extremely annoyed when she had found out that Camille had thrown out the present she'd had ready, deeming it a piece of junk, and Vivianne had actually worked for a few days on it. Harry still didn't know what it was, or who it was for, and neither did anyone else at the table, but as everyone now knew, Vivianne was less than impressed that she'd have to go through a garbage can to find it.

* * *

><p>That night, everyone went to bed, all excited for Christmas Eve the next day. Remus and Peter were asleep quickly, but Harry lay wide awake. This Christmas would mean a lot to him. It was the first one that he could remember with his parents, or any sort of real family. The Dursleys had never gotten him much, usually old socks or bent clothes hangers, and when he believed in St. Nicholas, he never really got anything that was 'From St. Nicholas', he just got his old sock. The Dursleys had done everything they could to make him feel unloved and have a terrible childhood.<p>

Around midnight, Harry was still laying awake, when the bedroom door creaked. He sat up, putting his glasses on quickly, before realizing that it was Vivianne. She was wearing her teddy bear pyjamas and slippers, and had been tiptoeing up to Harry's room.

"Harry?" she whispered, trying not to wake anyone else up. "Can I stay in here tonight? Camille's driving me crazy! She's just in there, talking in her sleep about how irritating I am."

"Yep, you can stay in here." Harry said, getting out of the bed and grabbing a sleeping bag. He unrolled it on the floor and slipped into it.

Vivianne crawled into the bed, bringing the comforters up to her chin. "Harry, sorry if I woke you up." she said.

"Nope, you didn't. I was having trouble falling asleep." Harry said.

"Why?" she asked.

"Oh, I dunno, tomorrow's Christmas Eve, that's probably why." he replied.

"Yeah, I can't wait until I can go to Hogwarts. What house d'you think I'll get sorted into?" she asked.

"Definitely Gryffindor, what other house would you belong in?" Harry replied.

"Yeah, the absolute best house there is!" Vivianne exclaimed.

Harry was about to reply when they heard Remus roll over and groan. Both kids stopped moving, they didn't want to wake the two adults up. Talking time was obviously over.

"Night Harry." Vivianne said, rolling over.

"Night Viv." Harry replied, finally falling asleep.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Harry woke up to Vivianne shaking him.<p>

"Harry! It's Christmas Eve!" she exclaimed, happily.

"Morning Viv, what time is it?" he asked, sitting up and grabbing his glasses off of the nightside table.

"'Bout 7:30, Mum's got bacon and eggs ready!" Vivianne exclaimed.

"How are you so perky in the morning?" Harry groaned, slipping out of the sleeping bag.

"Probably because you've been sleeping on the floor all night, now c'mon! Or Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius'll have eaten it all and we'll be stuck with eggs alone or begging Mum to make us pancakes. Let's go!" she exclaimed, grabbing Harry's arm and dragging him downstairs to the kitchen, where Sirius, James and Remus already were and Lily was finishing some more bacon. Harry was greeted with a chorus of good mornings, which he returned, and took a seat. Vivianne sat next to him.

"Morning sunshine, you look awake." Lily joked, smiling.

"Yeah, didn't fall asleep until midnight and I slept on the floor, not the best sleep I've ever had." Harry said, scooping some bacon, an egg and a piece of toast onto his plate.

"Yeah, before she went up to wake you up, Vivianne told us that she went into your room last night, apparently Camille had been talking in her sleep. Well, everyone's leaving tonight, so you'll have your bed back soon." Lily said.

"Yep, we'll soon be out of your hair." Sirius said, grinning.

"Yeah, wonder when Peter'll be up. He's been sleeping in a ton lately." Remus said. Harry had recently learned that Remus and Peter had been sharing a house, apparently neither of them had the greatest income and had to rent together.

"Oh well, you snooze, you lose out on the bacon." James replied.

"Yes, it seems that if you cook it, you also lose out on it to." Lily said, giving the three men a pointed look.

Bacon consumption slowed down after that.

Camille and Yvette were downstairs by 8, Peter didn't get to breakfast until 9, and when everyone had finished breakfast, Lily set to work baking a whole ton of gingerbread men. She was making a large gingerbread house, which Vivianne gladly helped out with, since she got some candy and just baked gingerbread men. Harry and James even chipped in a bit, though they mostly focussed on adding a Quidditch Pitch to the house and enchanting some cookies to fly. Lily reluctantly baked some gingerbread brooms, but kicked Harry and James out when they got bored and began enchanting the brooms to fly around the kitchen and not just the small pitch.

The Potter Christmas Dinner was very eventful, the four Marauders actually had a food fight with the mashed potatoes, before Lily came in and took all their wands and made them clean the mess up before continuing with supper. By the time the room was clean, everyone was starving, and there was very little conversation for about ten minutes while everyone scrambled to fill their empty stomachs. Afterwards, there was a lot of talk about recent going ons, some gossip and talk about who would win the Quidditch Cup this year, and wondering about when the national team tryouts would begin. Apparently, James and Sirius were considering trying out, although they knew they probably wouldn't make it. Peter was having an intent conversation with Vivianne about how she was excited for Hogwarts, and was giving her some more advice about it. Harry had to admit, Peter was a lot different in this reality than the other.

After dinner, it was time for presents. Vivianne had finally told Lily what the present was so Lily could accio it from the trash, Vivianne spent almost an hour in her room fixing it and wrapping it, and when she came out, she pointedly ignored Camille.

Harry received tickets to the next Quidditch game where Puddlemere was versing the Cannons, a nice new Nimbus 2000 (James said this was so he could practice for tryouts the next year), a new sweater, a large book on DADA (Harry was actually quite excited about it, he almost disappeared to read it right then), and then Vivianne handed him a small wrapped gift, which turned out to be a handmade, Hogwarts model, which had scenes from all his letters. That was most certainly his favourite gift, and he gave Vivianne a huge hug. He'd been working for the last week at school on a two books that they could communicate through, it was pretty advanced magic, but he had been able to get the spells right. He had tested it with Hermione, it could even log conversations and kept a brief history. Vivianne was absolutely ecstatic, but told him that she still expected letters.

Sirius, Yvette and Camille left around 8 that night, Peter and Remus left at 9. Harry had a wonderful Christmas with his family, and although he couldn't wait to get back to Hogwarts with his friends, he wasn't too keen on leaving. At least he had nearly two weeks before he needed to face that beast.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hooray for fluffy chapters! I promise the action is going to pick up soon, and you'll get some intense scenes coming up!**

**Also, the next chapter is potentially going to be posted late, on Friday. I'm getting my wisdom teeth removed on Wednesday, and I might not be able to post it the next day, depending on how I handle the anesthetic. So, it will either be on time or a day late. I just wanted to tell you since I was originally going to be posting it early on Wednesday, but my appointment was moved and I also decided not to make the next wait very long. This is just so you know, so you aren't wondering where Thursday's chapter is if it's late.**


	11. Back To School

Harry was at Platform 9 3/4 with Lily, James and Vivianne. Harry kind of wanted the rest of his family to see him off too, but Remus and Peter had a ton of work to do, and the Blacks had been at a late New Year's Celebration the night before in France, and were probably still at Yvette's parent's chateau. However, he would have Easter break to see them, and all of summer, so it would be fine.

"Now, Harry, remember to stay out of trouble! Oh, and don't get into any fights, do your homework, all that good stuff. We'll see you at Easter!" Lily exclaimed, hugging him and kissing his forehead.

Harry smiled, "I will Mum."

Lily smiled and James walked over to Harry. "So, how's the cloak coming in handy?" he whispered.

"Haven't used it for pranking yet, but it's bound to come in handy at some point!" Harry exclaimed.

"Good! Have fun at Hogwarts, break some rules - " James began before catching Lily's eye. "Have fun, be good and study for your exams." He winked at Harry, patting his shoulder before whispering, "I'll make sure any rulebreaking goes by unnoticed by your Mum, you've got to have some fun. Anyway, she snuck out just as often as I did, she can't complain too loudly."

"Sounds good Dad! I'll see you Easter!" Harry exclaimed, before catching Hermione's eye and starting to make his way over, before noticing a red blur charging at him.

Vivianne ran over, jumping at Harry, who barely caught her. Being able to catch her seemed to be a necessity, she loved jumping at him way too much. "Write letters everyday, and make sure to use the little book thing!" she exclaimed. "I'll be using it every night and I don't want you to miss one!"

"Got it Viv! Have fun at home! Try not to kill Camille, even though not that many people would miss her, but Sirius probably would hate you for the rest of your life, and try not to give Mum and Dad a hard time." Harry said, grinning, before putting her down and hugging her.

"I'll miss you Harry! Love you!" she exclaimed.

"I'll miss you too, Viv. Love you!" he said, and Vivianne let go after ruffling her hair, much to her chagrin since it had been somewhat neat for once in her life, and she walked over to their parents, waving frantically at Harry. Harry waved before boarding the train, going to find Hermione and Neville. Hermione had disappeared before he'd finished saying goodbye to Vivianne.

Harry walked down the train corridor, spotting Hermione and Neville already in a compartment as the train pulled out of the station. =

"Hey Harry! How was your Christmas?" Hermione asked when Harry entered the compartment.

"Great!" he replied, "How about yours?"

"It was fun, Mom and Dad took me skiing! I wasn't very good though, I fell down the kiddie hill." she said, wrinkling her nose. "I think I'll stick with reading about it instead of getting a face full of snow."

"Mine was good, mostly hung around the house." Neville said. "Verity seemed glad to see me, although I don't think she was too excited about splitting the attention."

"Nice! Everyone was at my house, although Vivianne and Camille nearly killed each other." Harry said, sighing. "Those two bloody hate each other, and I don't know why."

"Because they have the audacity to exist?" Neville suggested. "I mean, my Grandmum seems to feel that way about everyone."

The trolley lady came around, and this time, Neville paid for the snacks. He said it was only fair considering that Harry had been buying them stuff. He then looked around cautiously, and then closed the door and leaned in towards Harry and Hermione. "Did you guys hear?" he murmured. "Death Eater attacks are spiking again, the Woods were attacked over the break. They were one of twenty attacks."

"Really?" Hermione asked, eyes wide. Harry only looked at Neville in shocked silence.

"Yeah, my parents told me. Oliver Wood, y'know him? Gryffindor Quidditch captain? He spent six days in Mungo's. His Dad was tortured real bad, he's still in Mungo's. His Mum was killed." Neville said. "My parents were investigating it all break, then not to mention the rest of the attacks."

"It really does keep getting worse, doesn't it?" Hermione asked. "Was it always this bad?"

"No, it only really started getting this bad after the Death Eaters heard about the Phoenix." Neville murmured. "About six years ago. You remember, right Harry? When everyone was advised to start putting in secret rooms to hide their kids in when the Death Eaters came?"

Harry nodded, although he didn't remember it. He was still in shock about what had happened to Oliver Wood! He made sure to pay attention though, this was information he would need.

"Yeah, it's said to be the one person that can defeat You-Know-Who! He's getting desperate about the whole thing, who knows how far he's gonna go to find the Phoenix!" Neville said.

"Who is the Phoenix?" Hermione asked, frowning.

"No one knows, actually. At least, not that I know of. My parents don't really talk about the Phoenix very much." Neville said. "It's like some big secret. If You-Know-Who finds them, the Wizarding World is doomed."

"I heard Death Eaters mentioning it on my birthday, but my parents wouldn't tell me anything. They were really eager to try and forget it." Harry said. He'd found out more from Neville than from his parents on this whole thing.

"Yeah." Neville said. "It's getting to the point where it's dangerous to go through Muggle London, d'you know how many attacks are happening there?"

"Trust me, I know." Harry muttered. "My Dad and Uncle were nearly killed by the Lestranges."

Hermione looked between the two boys, biting her lip. "I hardly knew about any of this. I mean, I heard bits and pieces, but I didn't think it was that bad!"

"I don't blame you, most people don't like talking about it." Harry said. "It's hard enough getting information from my parents, despite living through these raids."

"Can you blame them? If I had kids, I wouldn't want to talk about it either." Neville said. "Dangerous stuff's going on, it isn't pleasant at all!"

* * *

><p>They got to Hogwarts a few hours later, and the three friends took a seat at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. Harry took the spot that he'd been sitting in the whole year so far, it had become a real habit, and soon the feast began. Seamus and Dean talked about their Christmas, apparently the two had been visiting each other over it a fair deal, Fay Dunbar was talking to Hermione about her Christmas (although Hermione and Fay weren't good friends), and it was overall a very welcoming feast, although looking at Oliver, it wasn't a very happy one. Harry wanted to go over and try to say something about how he understood, but he couldn't. It wasn't like the other reality, where he had lost his parents, and he couldn't even relate then. He hadn't known his parents when he lost them, Oliver did. Even though Oliver still had his father, he would carry the losses for his entire life. So, he did his best to ignore the battered Quidditch captain, who was only able to slide his food around his plate and look at the table.<p>

That night, since classes began the next day, everyone was asleep by ten. Harry did his best to forget the raids, and the nagging feeling that maybe his family wasn't as safe as he'd hoped.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry about the length, the next chapter is going to be a lot longer! I hope this cleared up some of the backstory for you guys! Please review, and guess what! Over 1000 readers and almost 100 follows! I love you guys :D**


	12. Maps and Revelations

It was the first Saturday of term, and Harry walked down the stairs to the common room, he saw the twins pouring over a large piece of parchment. Harry had seen that parchment many times before, he had used it to sneak into Hogsmeade countless times, as well as to see Ginny when he was on the run to make sure she was okay. They were holding the Marauder's Map.

The twins saw Harry looking at the Map curiously, and quickly folded it up and tapped it, murmuring Mischief Managed. "What're you looking at, Potter?" one of them asked. Harry couldn't tell them apart, he'd only been able to after George lost an ear, and after the battle, there hadn't even been reason for that. Fred's death still hurt him and all the Weasleys. He would never forget how sad George had been for years afterwards, having lost his other half. He knew that Fred's death still haunted him, and he saw how George teared up whenever he looked at his son. That was one thing he had to change. Fred couldn't die this time. Maybe it was a good thing he came back, he could fix everything.

"Is that the Marauder's Map?" Harry asked, ignoring their question. The piece of parchment meant a lot to Harry, it had been invaluable to him throughout his years at Hogwarts and beyond... Particularly with how his oldest son was.

"How d'you know about Marauder's Map?" the other asked.

"Prongs is my Dad." Harry replied, then walked off. He could tell the twins didn't like him too much in this reality, considering that he was deemed a stuffy know it all. By Ron at least, most other people didn't seem to care. Thank goodness, because it would've been extremely rough going if almost everyone hated him for it.

He was heading out to the Great Hall for breakfast, but he didn't make it to the portrait when the twins grabbed both his arms and dragged him to the corner. Harry began struggling, but as an eleven year old, he wasn't quite able to do the evasive maneuvers he learned in Auror training, especially since he hadn't needed to practice lately.

"Oi! I'd like to head to breakfast!" Harry exclaimed, giving up on the struggle. The twins wouldn't hurt him, he was sure of that. No matter how much they didn't like him at the moment, he'd just said he knew a Marauder and it wasn't in their nature. Well, excluding Umbridge and various Slytherins.

"No can do Potter."

"You see - "

"You can't just tell us you know one of the Marauders - "

"And then just expect - "

"That we'll just let you head off - "

"Without giving us a chance - "

"To cut you a deal to meet him."

"I actually know all four, Prongs is my Dad, Padfoot's my godfather, and Wormtail and Moony are family friends." Harry said, relieved when they let go of his arms. "I've known them my whole life! They told me about the Map. It's really neat."

"Alright then, what do we have to do to meet them?" one of the twins asked.

Harry looked at the Map. "I'll arrange for you to meet all four of them at the beginning of summer vacation for the Map." he replied.

The twins looked at each other. "The Map?"

"D'you think it's worth it...?"

"I dunno, I'm asking you!"

"The Maruaders, they made this..."

"You think?"

"Give us a couple days to discuss this." they said finally, and gave him a shove towards the portrait.

"Alright, that was kinda weird." Harry muttered, before walking to breakfast. He sat at the table with Hermione and Neville, who were already chatting animatedly about the Slug Club meeting that evening.

"Sorry I'm late, got caught up talking to the Weasley twins." Harry said, sitting down.

"Don't worry, we saved your spot." Hermione said, grinning.

"Anyway, it's not like you missed much, we're just talking about tonight's Slug Club meeting. Slughorn's bringing in a whole bunch of Quidditch players!" Neville exclaimed, grinning.

Harry grinned as well at that thought. "That's gonna be awesome! I totally can't wait until next year to try out for Quidditch, I'm really hoping for Seeker!" Harry exclaimed.

"What did the Weasley twins want?" Hermione asked, frowning slightly. "They're usually up to no good."

"Nothing much, apparently my Dad's one of their idols. They wanted to meet him." Harry said, shrugging.

"One of their idols?" Hermione asked, looking slightly alarmed. It was then that Harry remembered Hermione was a stickler for rules; he hadn't needed to think about it so much that year so far. He made a mental note to not mention that he was the son of a trouble making, rule breaking god again. He'd have to ride this one out though, unfortunately.

"Yeah, my Dad was a pranking genius at Hogwarts, along with my Uncle and their best friends." Harry said. "Not a big deal, although my Dad's still anticipating hearing about a well thought out prank."

"You won't, right? You'll get in trouble!" Hermione exclaimed. "Goodness knows how many detentions you'd get!" Harry once again mentally chided himself for being an idiot, why did he even mention the Weasley twins? Hermione was getting more distressed by the moment!

"Are you missing the fact he has his cloak, Hermione? He'll only get in trouble if he lets himself!" Neville exclaimed. "Although I don't know what you'd do, I'm not all that great at this."

"I probably won't, not unless someone deserves it." Harry said. "Anyway, if I need ideas, I'm sure Dad will send me a ton."

Hermione rolled her eyes, looking quite unimpressed.

"Hermione, seriously. I'm not going to go looking for trouble." Harry said. "I just want a quiet year."

* * *

><p>Harry strolled into DADA with Hermione and Neville as usual when he saw that Quirell was missing in class. There were questions assigned on the board, #1-100 on page 41, all about vampires and how to defend yourself against them. Harry decided this was suspicious behaviour, and vowed that he'd check it out. However, the questions would have to be done first, in class, and there was no way that he'd be able to sneak out. He'd left his cloak in the bottom of his trunk. Granted, people would notice he was gone even if he had his cloak. He'd need to wait until the end of the day. He let out a sigh, he had a lot of work to do. One hundred questions, no matter how easy, were still one hundred questions; dull and time consuming.<p>

"One to one hundred! Has Quirell gone mad?" Neville exclaimed, shaking his head at the board. "Did we do something that's making him punish us? This is ridiculous!"

"No, he just wants us stuck in class and to have work so we can't check something out." Harry replied, not caring how paranoid he sounded. He immediately knew that Quirell was looking for something. The Philosopher's Stone something. Why did he want it this time around though? Was he still working for Voldemort? Or was he simply going for personal gain? One could never know with people, especially since Voldemort didn't need the Stone this time around. Quirell could simply be greedy, seeking immortality and riches for himself. That was one thing people didn't understand; immortality wasn't a gift and riches weren't required to enjoy life. The Philsopher's Stone was for fools, fools who sought comfort from Death's gaze and who wanted luxuries that did nothing.

"Harry, you're just paranoid." Hermione said, "Quirell's probably just sick. Why would you think he's up to something?"

"And he's left the class unsupervised?" Harry asked. "That's why I think he's up to something. Most people would get a substitute!"

"Well, let's do the questions, we can check out your paranoia after classes today." Hermione said, looking rather frustrated.

Harry, having learned all this stuff before and having to do those very same questions before, finished within half an hour. Hermione finished shortly afterwards, and the two of them gave Neville all the answers. Defence wasn't his best subject by any means. It was strange, since Neville had gotten really good in the other reality. However, that was after DA.

* * *

><p>Classes that day seemed to drag on, and that evening, when Harry had finished scribbling out his usual letter to Vivianne, he saw Quirell limping into dinner. His leg was bandaged, but Harry could still see the blood.<p>

"You said he was sick, huh?" Harry said, raising his eyebrows at the extensive damage that was Professor Quirell's leg.

Hermione looked at him, rather alarmed by the state of the professor. "Where on earth could he have gotten injuries like that? I mean, he couldn't just go somewhere, and Hogwarts isn't that dangerous!"

"Fluffy, the three headed dog." Harry replied, without thinking.

"Wha- how do you know this?" she asked, incredulously. Harry realized what he'd implied, and cursed himself for his stupidity. If it were Ron instead of Hermione, there wouldn't have been a problem. Heck, even Hermione that Harry knew from the other reality once she'd grown up! However, Hermione was not yet the rebellious teenager that would go against authority because they were corrupt, but the girl who followed the rules to a T because that was expected. And he'd managed to imply rule breaking twice in one day.

Harry decided that his answer wasn't really lying, as he'd done it 24 years ago, "I snuck out and stumbled into the third floor corridor." He cursed himself for telling her he'd broken the rules, she was going to have a fit.

"You mean the one that Dumbledore forbid at the beginning of the year when you weren't paying any attention whatsoever because you were discussing your Sorting with Seamus and Dean?" Hermione asked, "Harry! You could be expelled if they found out!"

"Yeah, I suppose." Harry replied, regretting it when he saw the look on Hermione's face. "However, they won't find out. It's not like I left anything incriminating."

"How d'you know the dog's name is Fluffy?" Neville asked, curiously.

"Just guessing." Harry replied, glad that Neville changed the subject, although cursing himself for giving away more than he would logically know. Sometimes it could really suck knowing things when you aren't supposed to.

"I can't believe you would do that! You're so reckless!" Hermione exclaimed, letting out another sigh.

"Hermione, I was under the cloak, the dog didn't see me. I was just fine." Harry reassured her. She shot him a glare.

"Don't ever do something so stupid again!" she exclaimed.

"Well, you should know that the dog was on top of a trapdoor."

That peaked Hermione's attention. "And you think that Quirell's trying to get in it?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do."

"Well, maybe we should tell Dumbledore and he'll figure something out!" Neville exclaimed. "I mean, he knows everything!"

"Nah, I'm going to visit Hagrid. Quirell still needs to figure out how to get past the dog." Harry said, "We'll just need to be certain that Hagrid won't tell."

"Here, we'll visit him tomorrow, after lessons." Hermione said. "Now, let's get your letter mailed, head to the common room and do our homework. Then you can write your letter, and we'll sort through this insanity." Harry decided it was a good idea not to question any of it, Hermione was probably slightly in shock about the idea of a teacher going against the rules that they were meant to uphold. He didn't want to shock her anymore in one day. It would probably land her in the hospital wing.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thanks for your continued support guys! I hope you're having as much fun reading as I am writing! Remember to review! Promised action is coming soon!**

**Lastly, since school is starting up again soon, depending on how much time I have, I might be reducing the amount I update or changing my updating days. I have a queue of chapters ready, but I'm trying to write as much or more than I update, so I don't need to worry about getting chapters written for certain dates. Just a heads up!**


	13. Easter Break

Harry had intended on visiting Hagrid in the term that followed, but teachers had been determined to give out a ton of homework. It was as if they suspected he was up to something. He had managed to sneak out and tried to see Hagrid, but it was past curfew and Hagrid had threatened to give him detention. Harry had forgotten that he wasn't the favourite pupil. Being 'The Boy Who Lived' did have some advantages. Being 'Just Harry' was nice in many ways, but in terms of favours, it sucked.

Easter Break came along, which Harry was heading home for, for he was really enjoying hanging out with the family he had never had. Neville and Hermione weren't going, so he had to entertain himself on the train ride.

He was dragging his trunk down the stairs, getting ready to go to Hogsmeade Station. Both Neville and Hermione were staying behind to revise, but Harry knew the answers to the exams. Except History of Magic. He knew that as well as he did in fifth year. It still could make anyone fall asleep, asides from Hermione.

He was almost out of the common room when the twins grabbed him.

"Oi! Geroff me!" he exclaimed.

"No, we're here to cut you a deal."

"We'll give you the Map -"

"If you get all the Marauders to meet us-"

"At King's Cross Station-"

"At the end of the school year." they said.

"Alrighty then, can I have the Map?" Harry asked.

"No, not yet."

Harry mentally cursed. He wanted to use it to keep an eye on Quirell.

"Now, off you go!"

"You don't want to miss the train!"

"Or you'll be stuck here revising until 2 in the morning!"

"Going, going." Harry said, as the twins shoved him out the common room portrait.

Harry ran for the train. He was there alone, but he didn't mind. He decided to go over History of Magic; he might as well try to do well on the exam. He gave up after an hour though, Binns was more exciting than the book.

When he got off the train, he was nearly knocked over by none other than Vivianne.

"Hullo Harry! How're you? How's Hogwarts?" she asked, latched onto his neck.

"Great Viv, how're you?" he asked.

"Great!" she exclaimed, "Easter's going to be so much fun! Yvette's taking Camille to visit some family of hers, and Sirius decided to stay behind because he doesn't like Yvette's family, so it's an Yvette and Camille free holiday!"

"That's great!" Harry exclaimed.

"Yep, we're all going to be at Sirius' house, c'mon!" she exclaimed, grabbing Harry's wrist and dragging him over to his Mum, Dad, Sirius, Remus and Peter.

They all Apparated to Sirius' house, 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius had hated the place in the other reality, cooped up there right up until his dying day. Here, he seemed to mildly like it. "Home sweet home." he said, patting the walls.

"If you like it so much, why'd'you spend every waking hour at our place?" Lily joked.

Sirius smiled, "Because the portrait of my mother drives me crazy."

"You still haven't removed the ratty thing, have you?" James asked.

"Can't, Kreacher's done something to it, I suspect." Sirius replied and they all entered the house.

It was far different from what Harry remembered, as it felt like someone lived in it. It was clean, cared for and seemed less haunted. However, some things remain the same.

"FILTH! MUDBLOODS! HALFBREEDS! TAINTING THE PURITY OF MY HOME!" came the shriek of Walburga Black.

"SHUT UP MUM!" Sirius yelled back.

"I bet that drives Yvette crazy." Harry muttered.

"No, she seems to be deaf to it. Camille hates it." Sirius said.

"I really wish you'd get rid of it." Lily said.

"Well, we mostly spend time at your place, so every once in a while isn't too bad." Sirius said.

"Why didn't we spend it at our place?" James asked, "There's no shrieking portraits."

"Lily deserves a break from cooking for a ton of people."

"Let's be happy for the hospitality. I assume that you're cooking, Sirius." Lily said.

"Oh. Crap. I forgot Yvette left."

As it turned out, Lily was cooking and just got irritated with the different kitchen. It was very amusing to see her swearing at pots and pans, especially when one tried to bite her hand off. However, James ushered Harry and Vivianne out as Lily began swearing about using normal cooking utensils after the pan bent itself in half to latch onto her hand. Sirius had to get Kreacher to disenchant it, seeing as no one could. Harry probably could've, but he wasn't given the chance.

It was a very nice day, and Camille wasn't around to ruin Vivianne's good mood, so it turned out rather pleasant. Harry taught Vivianne how to climb the tree in the back, just as he'd taught his kids. He was beginning to really miss them, and was scared that in this reality, he might not marry Ginny and get his kids back. He stopped himself from thinking it, he'd get them back. He'd figure it out somehow.

Vivianne, as it turned out, wasn't very good at climbing trees. Harry had been forced to learn at five, seeing as he was Dudley's favourite punching bag, Vivianne didn't need to know how. Judging by her control over a flower that she picked, making the petals move and the flower float, she could probably defend herself well enough with magic when she got a wand, and Harry wasn't going to be beating her up in his lifetime. Therefore, she wasn't in a sink or swim situation. However, she desperately wanted to learn, so Harry kept teaching.

After several hours, a trip to Saint Mungos, getting attacked by various cooking implements and much yelling, Lily had finally finished making dinner. Her right hand was bandaged up, the pan had nearly taken off several fingers and broke a couple bones. She had then had to coach Sirius, James, Remus and Peter in the art of cooking, the four Marauders in the kitchen had been a spectacle that Harry was sad to miss. Apparently there'd been a full fledged food fight, that Lily had to break up with a broken hand. She'd then hexed the four men, and had to make dinner with her broken hand, she'd decided to let Harry and Vivianne enjoy the warm afternoon. For that, they were thankful.

Their dinner was amazing, Lily had done a great job, despite her broken hand. She hadn't quite mashed the potatoes to the usual perfection, since her dominant hand was bandaged up, but it was good nonetheless.

When it was Easter Sunday, they all sat around the living room, Lily had enchanted a bunch of Easter eggs to race around the house. Everyone then went on a large Easter egg chase, Vivianne caught two, James and Sirius each managed to catch five, Remus and Peter managed three, Lily didn't bother, she was focussing on keeping the enchantment up, while Harry caught no less than ten. It was similar to catching snitches, except these were slower, stayed within reaching distance and they were a more awkward shape.

Harry and Vivianne were highly enjoying their catch, Harry had split his share with her. They were enjoying the chocolate and other various treats inside.

Of course, Lily had gone home the night before to get Rusty, who was now laying on the couch, contentedly sleeping after a long bout of stalking Kreacher, catching some mice and then proceeding to eat a ton of leftover turkey. Harry saw that he was getting rather fat. Well, the cat was over a decade old, he was past his prime and focussing on enjoying life. Vivianne began petting Rusty who tried to roll over, but failed. He was a spoiled cat, Lily had always doted on him.

Harry's Easter Break was amazing, however, he was excited to go back to Hogwarts. He had some snooping on Quirell to do.


	14. Leaving for Hogwarts

Harry woke up exactly two hours before the Hogwarts Express was due to leave the station. Vivianne was still asleep, he wouldn't wake her up. She was a ball of endless energy when awake, she needed to recuperate. Anyway, Rusty was curled up around her head, and Harry wasn't risking touching the feline. His stuff was packed, except the pyjamas he had on and the clothes he was wearing to the station. He got dressed, shoved his pyjamas into his trunk and hauled it downstairs.

Lily's hand was still bandaged up, the frying pan had done a number to it, but she was frying pancakes nonetheless. Harry would not want to be making breakfast with a broken hand. He knew how much it hurt after a particularly nasty fight as an Auror with a Dark wizard that was attempting to kill a young boy.

"Morning Harry! You look ready to go!" she exclaimed, grinning at him.

"Yep!" Harry exclaimed, "Need help Mum?"

"No, I've got -"

That was when it turned into another Lily vs. Frying pan match. Kreacher had done a lousy job of removing the enchantment, only taming it temporarily.

Harry grabbed onto the frying pan, Lily was swearing as it tried to take her arm off, and James fell down the stairs, tripping as he came to investigate the yelling. This caused Walburga's portrait to begin screeching and soon, everyone in the house was awake and trying to keep the frying pan from killing Lily. Luckily, they stopped it from causing any damage asides from bruising.

"That's it! Harry, I'll give you money for something on the train, I'll cook everyone else breakfast at my house with safe utensils." Lily said, exasperated. "I'm sure it shouldn't be a big deal, since this is too much to deal with right now." No one questioned it.

"Dad, can I talk to you for a sec?" Harry asked his Dad, as they prepared to leave.

"Yeah, sure. Go right ahead!"

"You've heard of the Weasley twins, right?" Harry asked. He figured he would have, seeing as the Weasleys had been in the Order.

"Yep, I remember Fabian and Gideon talking about them while they were alive."

"They have Marauder's Map and they're willing to exchange it with me, if they get to meet you, Sirius, Remus and Peter." Harry said.

"They figured out how to work it!" James exclaimed. "Brilliant!"

"So, will you? It'll be when I'm returning for summer vacation." Harry said.

"Definitely! Padfoot! Moony! Wormtail!" James exclaimed, dragging his friends into the living room to deliver this newfound knowledge about how Fred and George Weasley had solved the mystery to Marauders Map. Apparently it was a rather exciting discovery, because the four men were standing there, talking excitedly.

"Harry, we'll leave in five minutes if it means I need to drag your Father by his ears, alright?" Lily asked, shaking her head at the four men. "Did you hear that James? By your bloody ears!"

"Sounds good." Harry replied, suppressing a laugh.

Vivianne walked over to Harry. "I can't wait to go to Hogwarts!" she exclaimed. "I'll get to see you all year and I'll be in Gryffindor and it'll be so much fun! And I'm gonna be all grown up, just like you!"

"Well, you'll be starting in a year and a bit." Harry said, grinning. "Anyway, don't be in a rush to grow up, it isn't that special. You have to be an adult."

"You'll remember to send me an owl for my birthday, right? And a present?" Vivianne asked, tugging on his sleeve. Harry could've sworn she'd grown a bit, he didn't remember her being at chest height at Christmas.

"Yeah, there's no way I'd forget! What d'you want for a present?" Harry asked. He could conjure up something with magic, he'd done it hundreds of time for his friends and children.

"Hmm... I'm not sure." she said, pouting slightly. "Something fun though! And colourful!"

"Alright, I'll figure something out!" Harry replied.

"Yay!" Vivianne exclaimed, giving him a hug.

"Think, when you get to go Hogwarts, I'll be in third year and'll be able to get you something from Hogsmeade." Harry said, ruffling her hair affectionately.

"That'll be awesome! I hear Honeydukes is amazing! And then everyone can visit you too!" Vivianne exclaimed. "Remember when we went there for my birthday last year?" For a moment, Harry was terrified. How was he going to talk about something he didn't remember? He didn't want to crush Vivianne by not knowing, but he simply couldn't remember.

Harry was saved from having to answer when Lily shouted for him. "Harry! It's time to go!" Lily exclaimed, pulling James away from his conversation.

"Okay Mum! You coming Viv?" Harry asked, grinning at his little sister.

"Yep!" Vivianne exclaimed, completely forgetting about her earlier question, much to Harry's relief. He didn't want to crush her by not remembering.

* * *

><p>His parents and sister dropped him off at Platform 9 34, and he boarded the train, waving goodbye. He was alone on it, but he didn't mind too much. He gave the History of Magic textbook another go.

After five minutes, he gave in. Binns was infinitely more exciting.

He changed into his school robes five minutes before they arrived at Hogwarts, and met up with Hermione and Neville at the Gryffindor table. He took his usual seat and prepared for his last term, and beating Quirell out for the Philosopher's Stone. No question about it, the Professor would try, and Harry needed to make sure he failed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I promise it'll pick up shortly! And oh gosh, I'm sorry the chapter was short, I'm trying to fill time and it's not going so well. There's some major action in the next chapter, I promise!**

**Also, school starts tomorrow, so I'm changing my updating dates to Monday and Friday.**


	15. The Philosopher's Stone, Part 1

It was mid May when Harry realized that the stone was in danger. He had seen extensive amounts of smoke coming from Hagrid's hut, and ran to check it out. He had peeked inside, with Neville and Hermione panting after him, and saw Hagrid tending to a dragon.

"Guys, the Philosopher's Stone, you've heard of it, right?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded, however, Neville was shaking his head no.

"Look, I'll explain while we head back to the castle. We need to see Dumbledore." Harry said, gesturing towards the castle frantically.

"How do you know this?" Hermione asked.

"It's a really long story, I might explain someday when it actually makes sense to me as well." Harry said, walking quickly. Hermione and Neville had to jog to keep up.

"Okay, so what's the Philosopher's Stone?" Neville asked.

"A stone that can turn anything into gold and make the Elixir of Life, making the drinker immortal." Hermione said, before Harry could reply. "It's extremely valuable, it was created by Nicholas Flammel."

Harry's head was spinning. He knew Quirell was after the Stone, but he didn't have Voldemort on the back of his head. Maybe he was getting it for Voldemort to keep him immortal, or he wanted it for himself. Most people would want money and treasure. He needed to hurry and tell Dumbledore. He could probably explain everything to Dumbledore, he'd make sense of things.

Harry walked briskly into the castle and saw Professor McGonagall. "Professor McGonagall! Have you seen Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked.

"No Mr. Potter, I'm afraid Professor Dumbledore has been called to the Ministry for some business." she said.

"Okay, thanks Professor!" Harry exclaimed, pulling Hermione and Neville into an empty corridor.

"Okay, now what?" Neville asked.

"We save to Stone." Harry said, matter of factly.

"That means - no! No Harry, it's stupid! We can't get past the dog that you say is there!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Music, we'll use music." Harry said, remembering the flute Hagrid had gotten him in the previous reality. He fleetingly wondered if it was still moving on, if it'd seized to exist, if Ginny had woken up to him missing, but he pushed the thoughts out of his head. He also wondered if it'd been time travel that changed it, meaning that the reality hadn't seized to exist, was just being rewritten. He needed to keep a clear head. He needed to stop thinking about it. That reality didn't matter anymore, this one did.

"Yeah, but none of us have instruments." Neville said. "Heck, can any of us even play one?"

Harry pulled out his wand. "Give me a minute." He remembered a conjuration class that he'd taken in Auror training. He began muttering a spell, forming the flute in his mind and them pulling it into existence.

"That - How do you know that?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, it's Harry. After knowing him this long, you should know that he's got all these spells up his sleeve." Neville replied.

"Well, come on!" Harry exclaimed.

The three of them followed him to his dorm, where he grabbed his cloak. They put it on, running to the third floor corridor. They slipped into it, locked the door and took the cloak off when Harry brought the flute to his lips and blew. Fluffy began to slowly drift off to sleep.

"Who's going first?" Neville asked.

Hermione stepped forward. "I will, then you Neville, Harry needs to keep playing to keep the dog asleep. I'll bring the cloak with me." she said.

Harry nodded, he made sure his wand would be easy to reach. He would need to destroy the Devil's Snare that the two were oblivious of, that he wasn't supposed to know about.

Hermione took a deep breath, walked to the edge of the hole, and leapt. She didn't scream, but there was an 'oomph' as she hit the bottom. "There's a soft landing!" she exclaimed, "A large plant!"

"Hermione, can you shine a light on this large plant?" Neville requested. Hermione complied, muttering 'Lumos', and Neville frowned.

"Mione, that's Devil's Snare." Neville reported.

Harry smiled, Neville was a good friend and very good at identifying plants.

"I don't know that spell, Harry, give me the flute." Neville said. Harry handed it to him, whistling while Neville got ready to play. Once the owl like sound was emitted from the instrument, Harry stopped whistling and ran over to the hole.

"Hermione, hold very still." he said. Hermione nodded then froze, despite the terrified look on her face. Her arms were bound tightly to her sides, but she still held her wand. Harry nonverbally conjured some bluebell flames, the plant began shrivelling and Hermione let out a sigh of relief.

Harry jumped, stopping his fall a foot above the ground.

"Neville! Jump down! I'll stop your fall!" Harry exclaimed.

Neville stopped playing, and Fluffy began waking up. Neville jumped, and Harry used a cushioning charm to ease the fall.

"Thank you." Neville said.

"No problem." Harry replied.

The three friends continued on, Harry preparing for the next obstacle. The keys.

They entered the room, the keys flying above them, brooms beside and door ahead. Harry grabbed a broom, Hermione and Neville looked at him. "C'mon! D'you want Quirell to steal the Stone?" he asked, "We need to get the key for the door. I'm guessing that old rusty one with the bent wing!"

Hermione and Neville each grabbed a broom, and kicked off into the air. Neville looked like he was going to fall off, so Harry flew over to him and corrected his grip. They then took off after the key. Neville took in from below, Hermione came at it from above and Harry went at it head on. With his skill of a Seeker, his hand closed around the key, nearly effortlessly. They landed on the ground and raced to the door, shoving the key in and unlocking the door.

The giant chessboard lay ahead. Harry looked at his two friends. He wasn't good at chess, nor was Hermione. Neville, however, smiled. "C'mon!" he exclaimed, clearly happy that there was something he was good at. He put Hermione and Harry in the place of the bishop and the rook, then mounted a knight. "Let's play." he said.

Harry was astonished at Neville's skill in chess. He'd never pegged Neville as the chess type, but Neville was ruthless. He had all the pawns out in a matter of minutes, but Harry saw how the game would end. They were all in the same position that they had been in during the game in the other reality. Neville had the same idea Ron had had.

"It's the only way." he muttered, then said "Harry, I'll move over to that square, the queen'll take me out. Then, you go for the king."

"No, Neville!" Hermione exclaimed, "You can't! It'll kill you!"

"No, I'll be injured, sure, but there's more important things, right? Plus, I'm fairly certain Harry's got a few healing spells up his sleeve." Neville said.

Harry smiled. He knew a few, they weren't great, but he knew a few. After the potion stage, he'd get Hermione to take Neville back and owl Dumbledore. Harry didn't have the sacrificial protection advantage anymore, so he most certainly needed Dumbledore for backup.

Neville took a deep breath, then ordered his knight to E-6. The queen came over, swinging her staff and sending both Neville and the knight flying. Hermione let out a shout, nearly stepping off her square before Harry stopped her. "We need to win the game first! We're still playing!"

Harry stepped up to the king, and the chess piece threw down its sword and crown angrily as the pieces left the board. Harry and Hermione then ran over to Neville.

"Neville!" Hermione exclaimed.

"He's out cold, otherwise he's fine. He'll be sore, a bit of bruising." Harry said.

Hermione nodded. "Should we bring him with us?"

"He's safer here." Harry said, "Come on."

They entered the next room, a troll lay unconscious in it. "Come on! Harry exclaimed, "Before it wakes up!"

They ran through the room, glad they didn't need t take on another troll, and ran into the potions room. A fire sprung up behind them and in front of them. Seven potions bottles were lined up along the wall with a clue sheet in front. Hermione grabbed the sheet, muttering to herself.

"Which'll get you back and me forward?" Harry asked.

Hermione pointed to the small black vial. "That'll get you through the black flames ahead," she said, then pointed to a small purple one, "this'll take me back. Why can't I come to?"

"Because, someone needs to get Dumbledore, and I'm sure Neville'd like to wake up with someone next to him in the hospital wing instead of alone in here. Use the brooms, they'll get you out. I think Neville dropped the flute when he fell." Harry said.

"You're a great wizard Harry!" she exclaimed, hugging him.

"You're an amazing witch." he replied.

Hermione smiled, the drank the purple vial, wrinkling her nose before leaving. Harry drank the black vial's contents, and felt the uncomfortable sensation of ice flowing through his veins. He ran through the black fire, then prepared himself to face Quirell.

He entered to see Quirell facing the mirror of Erised, muttering angrily, before turning to face Harry.

"Hello Potter."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Cliff hanger! Also, first year is coming to a close soon, and I might be taking a week without updating to write up a bunch of chapters for his thRid year. I'm gonna finish first year before I do that, don't worry! I'm sorry, it's just that I haven't been writing them because school started, and I don't to run out of my chapters anytime soon!**


	16. The Philosopher's Stone, Part 2

"Hello Potter."

Quirell sounded so calm, but there was an undertone of hatred and irritation in his voice. Harry prepared to duel Quirell, he wasn't sure how long he'd have to hold him off before Dumbledore showed up. He had to get in his duelling mentality. Quirell was capable of killing him, and Harry couldn't afford to screw up. It was so much easier when he simply could have run up and grabbed him so he disintegrated. Now he was required to use skill.

"You see, I'm having a bit of a problem. I can't seem to get the Stone from the Mirror. Do you have a solution, Potter? You do seem to be quite intelligent for your age. You got in here."

"Why? Why d'you want the Stone?" Harry asked. "What use does it serve you?"

"The Philosopher's Stone! The key to infinite treasures and immortality! Who wouldn't wish it upon themselves to have both?" Quirell replied. "I should've known you'd figure it out Potter, you're too suspicious and paranoid, too smart for your own good! I'm afraid I'll have to finish you off, I'll need to be long gone before Dumbledore finds out I'm missing. I need to disappear before I get arrested. Immortal life isn't enjoyable if you're trapped in Azkaban forever."

"No, I'm not quite smart enough. I should've figured you wouldn't be able to get the Stone!" Harry exclaimed. It was 24 years ago, how could he remember all of this? Most of this was coming back to him as he went along. "Only fools would want immortality!" Harry knew how it could destroy someone.

"Ah, maybe you're the key. Tell me how to get the Stone, boy!" Quirell snapped. "And it's the fools who reject power! Fools would turn down immortality and the power that comes with it!" Harry couldn't help but snort, Quirell sounded like Voldemort at the moment.

"Not saying anything, you won't be able to get it anyway. You want it for yourself." Harry replied, making sure not to look in the mirror. He didn't want the stone, and he wasn't risking it.

Quirell took several menacing steps towards Harry, holding his wand out. "You will tell me how to get the Stone, or I'll kill you like the Dark Lord killed his opposition!"

"You're following him, aren't you? He wants the Stone too, doesn't he?" Harry asked, reaching for his wand in his pocket. However, Quirell saw what he was up to, and Disarmed him faster than he could draw it to defend himself. He cursed himself, he really was growing lax in his abilities. He needed to get someone to practice duelling with, or he was going to know all these spells and not be able to use them. He would make sure to get Hermione and Neville to practice with him once he got out of this... If he made it out of this.

"You are a meddlesome boy... The Dark Lord will want you for himself!" Quirell snarled, pulling Harry towards him by the collar.

"I may be meddlesome, but at least I'm doing the right thing!" Harry exclaimed, then kicked Quirell as hard as he could.

Quirell howled in pain, letting Harry go. Harry ran to grab his wand, but Quirell grabbed him by his ankle, causing him to trip. His wand was just out of reach. He began kicking his leg, attempting to connect with Quirell's face, anything really, that would cause him to let go. He was going to have to either grab his wand or stand up, all so he could either duel or fight. Aurors had to learn hand to hand, but they didn't need it too often. Harry had made sure he became proficient at it, just in case. He was thanking his other self for having the foresight to do so. However, he needed to get up, and that wasn't happening.

Harry was dragging both him and Quirell forward, kicking frantically in the hopes of Quirell letting go so he could hurry up, and his fingers finally closed around his wand. He rolled over, sat up and shouted "Stupefy!" which barely missed Quirell's face. Harry stood up, wincing. His elbows were in pain, he'd injured them when falling.

Quirell stood up as well, brandishing his wand. "Crucio!" Quirell shouted, which Harry blocked with a shield charm. He was getting back into the rhythm, he could do this! He would do well, he would beat Quirell. As an Auror, heck, even as a teenager, he'd faced far worse.

"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, which Quirell blocked, while Harry send a wordless Disarming charm. Quirell barely dodged, scowling at the first year. His face was one of fury, but Harry refused to flinch. He was going to win this duel.

"How did you learn this Potter?" Quirell asked, angrily. Harry didn't blame him for wondering, he was rather exceptional for his age. Quirell's distraction was useful, Harry didn't need to join in the man's banter.

Harry took advantage of the man's momentary distraction, his Disarming charm and Stunner hitting the man before he could react. "I think you should focus more on the duel, Professor." Harry said, before sitting down, exhausted. He hadn't used this much magic at once in a year.

He sat down, and waited for Dumbledore. He hoped the wizard was quick, because he did not want to be alone when Quirell woke up. Beating him once was far more than enough. If he had to do it again, in his exhausted state, he would most likely lose. Dumbledore couldn't come fast enough.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm sorry this was short, but yay! There's one more chapter after this until I take a one week hiatus, just to wrap up first year! Also, to answer a couple questions I got...**

**1) There will be more Vivianne very soon**

**2) All of Harry's years are going to be in this one story**

**3) The Phoenix is currently slightly on the back burner, as it is more of a major plot for the upcoming years. Trust me, you'll find out soon enough, and it's going to be a major, major plot point. However, it isn't going to be revealed until the plot calls for it.**

**4) Those two extra Gryffindor boys I had are in a seperate dorm, and bear no real importance. I have a headcanon that there were more Gryffindors than mentioned, since I don't think there's enough students if every house has only five boys and five girls in their year, especially in this universe due to the absense of a lot of Slytherins.**


	17. The End of First Year

The last month if school was a ton of fun. DADA was cancelled, Quirell was tossed in Azkaban, so the whole school had an extra free period.

It was two weeks until Vivianne's birthday, three weeks until exams and four weeks until they went was two weeks after the incident that Dumbledore called Harry into his office. Harry had been working on Vivianne's present in the common room, he was trying to enchant a glass orb to glow different colours when Professor McGonagall came up to him.

"Mr Potter! Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with you!" she exclaimed, eyebrows raised in a manner that suggested he didn't argue. Not that he would, of course.

Harry was rather surprised, Dumbledore hasn't really spoken to him at all this year, there was a quick conversation which included an 'Are you okay?' and then Harry had to recap all the previous events about what transpired with Quirell.

"Yes Professor!" Harry exclaimed.

"He likes lemon drops." McGonagall said, before turning and leaving towards the Transfiguration classroom.

Harry got up, leaving for Dumbledore's office. He got to the gargoyle statue, muttering 'lemon drops' as he approached it. Harry climbed the stairs, wondering what Dumbledore could possibly want.

Dumbledore sat at his desk, his eyes twinkling the same way they had in the other reality. "Hello Harry, please, take a seat." he said.

Harry sat across from him and Dumbledore's eyes surveyed him carefully. His blue eyes were looking at Harry softly, but piercing into his very soul and Harry felt like the man just knew.

"I would be extremely pleased if you could tell me exactly how you knew the Philosopher's Stone was in danger, when none of our staff were aware of it and you couldn't've possibly known about it from any of us." Dumbledore said.

Harry thought then said "I don't really get it myself, all that I know is that it's a very long story."

Dumbledore looked at him closely. "Also, you managed to beat Quirell in a duel, probably using spells you shouldn't know yet. Upon talking to Ms Granger in the hospital wing with Mr Longbottom, it appears you know a lot of spells you shouldn't."

"Is that a bad thing?" Harry asked, slightly worried that he was somehow in trouble for knowing too much.

"On the contrary, I'd be delighted to know how you learned them." Dumbledore replied.

"It's a really long story that I really don't understand." Harry said.

"Tell me what you do understand, Harry."

Harry frowned. Dumbledore was being extremely pushy, did he want to talk about the other reality? It was far fetched enough that he probably would think Harry was lying.

"I'm afraid I really don't get it either, sir. It's... it's very confusing."

"You don't understand where you learned to do all these spells that most seventh years can't perform?" Dumbledore asked, eyebrows raised.

"I'm afraid so, sir." Harry replied.

"Well, one day I'll get to the bottom of this mystery. Goodbye Harry." Dumbledore said. "If you would like to discuss it to try and understand, I'll be here."

"Goodbye Professor, I'll keep it in mind." Harry said and exited.

* * *

><p>It was the night before Vivianne's birthday when Harry sent the glowing orb and a letter saying 'Happy Birthday' and filled with confetti. He sent Hedwig off, telling her to make sure it was there by morning. He, Hermione and Neville all stood in the owl tower, watching Hedwig fly off.<p>

"It's funny to think that our first year's almost over, one week until exams -" Hermione began before Neville let out a moan.

"What the...?" Harry murmured, looking at Neville confused.

"Exams! I'm screwed, I've hardly studied!" Neville exclaimed.

"Well, now that our nearing end of year moment's been ruined, let's head back to the common room and help Neville study." Hermione said.

The three friends ran back to the common room to hit the books.

* * *

><p>Exams went by in a flash, Harry and Hermione got by with straight Os (Harry's A in History of Magic excepted) and Neville got a couple Os, four Es and an A. They were all extremely proud of themselves, and were climbing on the train smiling.<p>

"I can't believe our first year's over!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Only six years left!" Harry exclaimed.

"Not enough time." Neville said, "Hogwarts is really amazing."

Harry was then grabbed by the twins. "You're getting the Marauders to meet us-"

"All four of them -"

"Right?"

"Yes, I'll introduce you to them at the station." Harry said.

* * *

><p>The train ride seemed too short, although the three friends took advantage of being permitted to use magic. They played exploding snap, Harry taught them how to Disarm each other and they all pigged out on Chocolate Frogs. He made sure to tell them they had to come over for his birthday, which both readily agreed to, and Harry promised it would be a ton of fun.<p>

When the train pulled into the station, he hugged Neville and Hermione goodbye and they ran off to find their parents, while Harry pulled his luggage towards his. The twins caught up to him, and upon seeing all four Marauders smiling, they couldn't shove the Map into Harry's hands fast enough. They had a very long conversation with the Marauders, and had to be dragged home by Mrs Weasley.

"Harry!" Vivianne exclaimed, and Harry barely caught her as she launched herself at him. "I loved the present, it was amazing. only one month until your birthday, huh? What'd'you want?"

"Not sure, I'll figure that out." Harry replied, smiling.

Truth be told, he had everything he wanted.

He hugged his parents, then Sirius and the others and they all went home.

Harry couldn't wait for the next year at Hogwarts.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: First year's finished! Another six to go! I'm glad for all of your support through this so far, and in passing this milestone! Also, I won't be updating next week (Monday and Friday) so I can focus on writing several more chapters for the upcoming years and finish my outline for this. I'm also editing some of second year chapters to improve the quality and length, and backing stuff up.**

**Thanks for reading, and see you soon!**


	18. Happy Birthday Harry!

It had been exactly one year since Harry had woken up to Vivianne in his face to wish him a happy eleventh birthday. Harry woke up this year, to Vivianne right over top of him again. He playfully pushed her off so he could get ready. He'd invited Hermione and Neville over, they were coming over at noon.

"Morning Harry! Happy twelfth birthday!" Vivianne exclaimed.

"Thanks Viv! Now, I'd like to get dressed, so could you excuse me and shoo?" Harry requested.

"Got it!" Vivianne exclaimed, exiting the room and closing the door. Harry could hear her racing down the stairs, excited as though it was her own birthday.

Harry changed into jeans and a t-shirt, then went out for breakfast.

Lily was cooking happily in her kitchen where she wasn't getting attacked by enchanted utensils. Harry smelled the pancakes frying as Lily was humming.

"Morning Harry! Happy Birthday!"

"Morning Mum, thanks!" Harry exclaimed, before walking to the dining room and taking a seat between to his Dad and Viv.

"Happy Birthday, Harry." James said, smiling as he read the Prophet. The headline was talking about an attack on the Thicknesse's home. Only one survivor. Harry swallowed nervously, before turning to Vivianne to make sure she didn't see.

"So, Hermione and Neville will be here at noon, right?" Lily asked from the kitchen.

"Yep!" Harry exclaimed.

"Sirius, Remus and Peter should be here any minute." James said. "Yvette had a family emergency in France, and she's bringing Camille."

"I hope there won't be a raid this time." Harry said.

"Well, keep your wand on you just in case. We had about six while you were at school." Lily said. Summer had been fun, although there had been about three raids in July alone. "They're getting more ruthless, raids are becoming more frequent."

"If anything happens, Vivianne's your responsibility. Shouldn't be an issue though, seeing as you Apparated last time." James said, grinning slightly.

"Got it!" Harry said. "I'll take care of her, no problem!"

"Why can't I get a wand?" Vivianne asked, frowning. "That would solve a ton of problems! I'd be able to help out and I'd be just as good as Harry!"

"You'll get one next year." Lily said, "Only one year until you go to Hogwarts. Anyway, darling, I'm not sure that what Harry can do is something everyone can. Most people need to put a lot of effort into learning. You'll learn when you go to Hogwarts."

Vivianne pouted. "I want to go now though!"

"You'll also know people in your year, Camille's -" James began, ignoring her whining.

"I hope she goes to Beauxbatons." Vivianne interjected.

"James, you know Vivianne and Camille hate each other, they'll act like they don't know each other at all." Lily said.

Harry smiled. Vivianne was a spitting image of Lily and Camille was a spitting image of Yvette. He wondered if Lily and Yvette had anything to do with Vivianne and Camille's attitude towards each other. It wouldn't surprise him, because although Camille could be a stuck up prat, she wasn't too bad if she was in the right mood.

There was a knock on the door, Lily ran from the kitchen to get it.

"Ah, Lily, good to see you haven't been killed by a frying pan - OW!" Harry heard Sirius yelp. He could feel Lily's irritation from where he was sitting, and a slight giggle that was almost instantly silenced.

"Yeah, that's because my utensils aren't cursed!" Lily exclaimed, scowling, then went back into the kitchen to finish cooking.

Sirius, Remus and Peter came in, carrying presents. Harry was still trying to get used to how spoiled they kept him, he wasn't used to this many birthday presents. Ever. The Dursleys had never given him that much, and even after starting Hogwarts, he had never gotten that many. Not that it mattered, but it was extremely difficult to get used to.

"Harry, happy birthday!" Sirius exclaimed when he saw Harry.

"Thanks, Uncle Padfoot!" Harry said, smiling.

Lily came out with a mountain of pancakes. "This'd better be enough, I don't have any batter left."

"I think it's good Mum." Vivianne said, still frowning about not being allowed to have a wand.

"Ooh, pancakes!" Peter exclaimed. "I wasn't expecting that we'd be getting breakfast while we were here. Remus and I wouldn't have grabbed something on the way here if we'd known."

It turned out that there was enough, with one pancake left over that Lily gave to Rusty who than meandered over to the couch, pretty much passed out he fell asleep extremely quickly and was purring contentedly in his sleep.

Rusty was really getting to be a fat cat.

"He's so fat!" Sirius joked.

Harry saw Lily was turning slightly pink. One rule about safely living in the Potter house. Do not insult Rusty where Lily could hear you. She was worse than Filch with Mrs Norris. Insult Rusty and you would die.

The only thing that stopped Lily from killing Sirius at that moment was a knock on the door, which Harry ran to go get. It was Hermione and Neville.

Lily wouldn't kill Sirius in front of people that weren't family.

"Hey guys!" Harry exclaimed.

"Hey Harry!" Hermione said, giving him a hug, "Good to see you!"

"Good to see you too." Harry said.

Harry led them into the living room, which was just across the hall from the dining room. Hermione instantly fell in love with Rusty, who immediately fell in love with her as well. Hermione was clearly a cat person.

Lily seemed rather smug when she came into the living room to see Hermione fawning over Rusty who was now curled up on the young witch's lap, purring loudly as she scratched behind his ears.

Everyone came into the living room shortly afterwards. Most of them knew Neville's parents, seeing as they were in the Order together, and everyone was getting along with Hermione just fine.

They were all chatting and having a wonderful time and were just about to have cake when the door burst open, which caused Rusty to tear off upstairs.

Harry began thinking his birthday was cursed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Where's the fun in the story without a raid? Gotta have the Death Eaters show up every once in a while! Also, carpal tunnel and school are kicking my ass. Updates may slow down again, but it's my grade 12 year, and I've got a ton of projects already :( I'll do my best to keep this pace, but I may need to reduce my update (Sorry!)**


	19. The Walls Come Crashing Down

Harry grabbed Vivianne, telling Hermione and Neville to follow him. He brought them down to the secret room under the stairs in the basement, and tapped the wall three times so they could enter. Death Eaters had followed him so he pushed the four of them in, closed it and began duelling. It was the only thing he could think of doing, the Death Eaters had seen how to get in and he was the only one with a wand.

"You think you can beat me, little boy?" the Death Eater asked. Harry recognized him as Augustus Rookwood. Might as well save Fred's life without him knowing it.

"Yeah, I kinda think I can." Harry replied, brandishing his wand. He had managed to beat Quirell, and he was constantly going over his spells over the summer, even if he couldn't cast any.

Rookwood sent a Cruciatus Curse at Harry, who blocked it with a shield charm then retaliated with a Stunner. The three Death Eaters behind Rookwood joined the fight, all of them sending curses. Harry sent a Blasting Charm at the four Death Eaters, jumping out of the way of the blast just in time. The Death Eaters all flew back, howling in pain.

He saw his Mum come racing down the stairs, making sure the room hadn't been breached. The basement floor had a large chunk taken out of it and the walls were singed and had pieces taken out, but there wasn't any real damage to the infrastructure. Lily began duelling the Death Eaters as well, making sure her son didn't need to take them all on. However, Harry had done most of the work, and those four were ready for Azkaban in a matter of moments.

"What are you doing? Why aren't you hiding?" Lily snapped, looking at her son, terrified. "You could be killed!"

"They were right behind us, they saw how to get in the room!" Harry retorted, casting a spell to tie the four Death Eaters up.

There was the sound of a cat yowling upstairs, Lily said "Harry, stay down here, get out of sight!" and ran up the stairs to save Rusty. Harry, however, had a different idea. He tore up the stairs as well, running right into the heart of the fight. It was larger than the other raids, the Potters and others were barely holding their own. Harry couldn't stay back and do nothing.

A killing curse missed James by less than an inch, Harry shot a Stunner in the direction the curse came from. He was then grabbed from behind, a Death Eater held his wand to Harry's throat.

"Anyone move and the boy dies!" the Death Eater exclaimed, hoisting Harry off the ground. Harry had other plans.

Harry elbowed the Death Eater in the stomach, stomped on his foot, pulled the wand out from under his chin and slipped out of the Death Eaters grasp, then punched him in the face and hit him with a Stunner. Aurors were trained in hand to hand for situations like these. Harry had the advantage.

James and Lily had paused for a second, watching their son obliterate a Death Eater, before returning to duelling. Harry figured he was going to be in way more trouble than he'd ever been in before after this battle.

It seemed that after obliterating the one Death Eater, Harry now seemed to be a main target, except not for killing. Death Eaters were sending far more spells at him, but they were all Stunners and Leg Locker Curses and the like. None would do permanent damage. Harry still blocked and dodged all of them, but with the mass volume, even he was getting tired from the strain.

The Death Eaters were getting Stunned and beaten back, their numbers shrinking, so finally one yelled "Pull back!" and they all ran out. Harry began panting, he had just been pushed to the limit. Everyone who had been fighting looked wiped out. Peter and Sirius had both been Stunned, and James had several scratches on his face. Lily was bruised and looked beyond terrified.

"I'll get Hermione, Neville, and Viv from the room under the stairs." Harry said, and went down the stairs while everyone else collapsed on the couch. He let the others out with three taps of his wand, and he was considering hiding in there until his parents calmed down.

"Do raids like this happen often?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, every house has rooms like these." Neville said.

"Yeah, they usually aren't this bad." Vivianne murmured.

"Well, we're going to need to get those Death Eaters in Azkaban." Harry said.

Vivianne still looked rather anxious, and it clearly hadn't been a fun time waiting. Harry felt bad, she was probably worrying about him. "Is it just me, or are they getting longer?" Vivianne asked, sighing.

"I dunno, it seemed pretty quick to me." Harry replied.

"Yeah, you were being stupid and fighting." Vivianne retorted.

"But I'm still here, aren't I?" Harry asked.

"How often do you get these raids?" Hermione asked.

Harry looked at Vivianne. "They're getting more frequent it seems, but there's no certain way to tell when you'll get one. Sometimes, like last year, you're lucky and get some notice, but like what just happened, the only notice you get is the door blasting in." he said. "You never know. It's random as anything, that's the scary part."

"There was one where they snuck in during the middle of the night, we were lucky Mum was up getting a drink of water, otherwise we would have all turned up dead." Vivianne said. Harry looked at her confused, he hadn't heard about that one. "It was while you were at Hogwarts. We didn't tell you because you were about to have exams and we didn't want to stress you out."

"Okay, well, let's head upstairs where Mum and Dad are going to skin me alive." Harry said.

"Ooh, what'd you do?" Vivianne asked, tilting her head, frowning.

"I went upstairs and duelled when Mum told me to stay down here and hide." Harry replied.

"Yeah, you're screwed."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Someone's getting in trouble!**

**ALSO! I am so, so, so sorry I didn't get this up last night! I was sick and completely forgot! Please forgive me :( School is getting hectic, so I think I'm going to just be updating once a week on Mondays from now on so I don't run out of chapters as well. I'm really sorry!**


	20. Diagon Revisited

Harry had gotten in quite a bit of trouble after Hermione, Neville and all the others left. Lily had been worried sick when he'd come up, so he was grounded for a week after getting screamed at for nearly an hour straight. He couldn't blame Lily for it, seeing as he was twelve (physically and in this universe) and had gone up against a bunch of Death Eaters.

After that one week was up, the Potters decided to go to Diagon Alley. Harry hoped that this time they wouldn't run into the Lestranges. The only two alive ones anyway. Granted, it wasn't likely. As he was quickly learning, Death Eater attacks were mostly planned out to be efficient, and targeting a large group in Diagon Alley was a bad plan. A couple people in muggle London wasn't undoable.

* * *

><p>When they got to Diagon Alley, Lily was frowning at the booklist.<p>

"Lily, I've never seen you frown so much towards an inanimate object before, what's wrong?" James asked, looking concerned. "They aren't reading trashy romance novels, right?"

In response, she handed him the booklist.

"Yeah these are the same ones we - Bloody hell! You mean that twit Lockhart a year above us in Ravenclaw managed to become a teacher?" James exclaimed.

"Yeah, all seven of his stupid books about accomplishments he probably hasn't done." Lily said. "I find it hard to believe he dealt with anything stronger than a mouse and lived to tell the tale."

Vivianne frowned a bit, before perking up. "I wish I could go to Hogwarts this year, I want to see how stupid this idiot is!"

"No, you want a competent DADA teacher." James said. "Otherwise it ruins the subject for you."

"I agree." Harry replied, "And hope you don't get one that wants you dead, because that can also be a bit of a letdown."

Vivianne frowned a bit, before letting out a sigh. "I guess you're right."

"Yeah, Quirell tried to kill me."

"But you beat him and got him thrown in Azkaban." Vivianne perked up again. "See? You learned a lot! I want to-"

"No, you really don't."

"But -"

Lily quickly interrupted with some school concerns. "Now, Hedwig's fine, and Vivianne _isn't_ going to Hogwarts yet, therefore we don't need to go to Eeylops or the Magical Menagerie. We need books, and Harry, do your robes fit?" Lily asked.

"Yeah, my robes are fine." Harry replied.

"Good, it's just the books. Merlin, the Lockhart collection is expensive. We're lucky your Dad inherited a fortune." Lily said.

"I need some more Potions ingredients for my kit." Harry added, before thinking deeply. "I think that's it, honestly."

"Let's get the books first, the Lockhart collection's popular." Lily said, clearly disgusted by the thought of buying it. Then a look of horror passed over her face. Harry was about to ask why, but she answered before he could ask. "Oh Merlin, he's having a signing today."

* * *

><p>The four Potters went into the bookstore, it was extremely crowded. Harry saw a woman bump into Ginny Weasley trying to fight her way to the front, but was kind enough to help her put her books back in her bag. The woman exited the shop, clearly exasperated by the crowd. Lily managed to get the series, and tried to get the series to the front desk without going near Lockhart. Harry couldn't blame her.<p>

The four of them quickly bought the books. "Well, if he gets fired by the end of the year, these books will make great kindling." Lily remarked.

Harry couldn't agree more.

They quickly refilled on Harry's Potions ingredients, then went to Fortescue's Ice Cream Emporium.

"What'd'you say? Walk through muggle London?" James joked.

"NO!" the three of them exclaimed.

"We don't want a repeat of last time when we thought you were dead!" Lily exclaimed, "It might be funny to joke around with for you, but how d'you think Harry and Vivianne felt? They thought they lost their Dad! How d'you think they could live with it if it actually happened? We were pretty convinced."

Harry thought back to the other reality. He hadn't known his parents, he hadn't remembered them at all, really. He'd always managed. But now that he knew them, Lily's extreme love for Rusty, James' extremely laid back and joking nature, he wasn't sure he'd be able to stand it. He'd wished the other reality away, not knowingly, for his parents to be alive and well. At least in this reality, he'd have someone to take him and Vivianne in who actually cared.

"Sorry, sorry!" James said, holding his hands up, clearly hoping that Lily wouldn't hit him. She didn't, but she clearly was giving him just the one warning.

After they finished their ice cream, they went to the Leaky Cauldron to floo home.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: K, so I guess I didn't update on Monday...**

**I'm really sorry guys, Grade 12 was kicking my behind because I got a job, so I fell off the bandwagon, and then all my docs expired, so I lacked motivation to re-edit them, since I was stupid and stored them on here. Then I started university and I'm in a serious relationship now, and I prioritized that. I'm not going to promise constant updates. I'm going to try and do it when I have time to sit down and edit, but I also have end of year papers to write, things to do, and I do prioritize that over this, because getting into law school and securing my future is a little bit more important. I also don't want to put out crap, so I'm editing the chapters a lot because I wrote most of these years ago when I was in grade 9. Yeah, four to five years ago. So, I'm gonna try and finish this eventually, and when I run out of chapters I've prewritten, they're gonna take longer to write, because editing is faster than writing, and I'm in the process of also writing a historical fiction, which is also something I'm passionate about. I promise I'll try to update more than once every year and a half, I'll admit this hiatus was ridiculously insane.**

**I'm also going to ask that people don't ask me to update sooner/hurry up because it's taking too long/etc. because that kind of saps my will to write and just makes me feel crappy. I get that you want more chapters, and I don't blame you, and 'I can't wait for the next one' is actually really encouraging, but 'why are you taking so long' isn't. Especially because I have stuff that will affect the rest of my life.**

**As the saying goes, fun is temporary, GPA is forever.**

**Either way, the next chapter isn't too bad, so I'm probably going to be able to edit that quickly, it's a matter of motivation and fitting it between essays, dates, lectures, etc. Also, I'm planning on going over some of the old chapters and rewriting some of them so they're a bit better once I have time! They might be shorter than we'd all like, but once third year hits, the few I have already written are a fair deal longer, AND I'm going to combine some chapters.**

**I also have another couple fanfiction ideas that I'm likely to start as soon as I finish Birthday Wishes...in probably like, a bajillion years or something. Marauders' Daughters coming eventually to a fanfiction site near you!**

**Please don't expect an update for around a week though, because I have a paper due Wednesday, and then I'm packing for Easter weekend. However, I do anticipate one coming soon.**


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